The New York Mets keep their opponent scoreless as they beat the Cleveland Indians 6-0 to win the three-game series.
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Mets left-hander Steven Matz allowed three hits in seven innings and the Indians struck out 15 times against four pitchers.
Napoli advanced to second base on a wild pitch, and after Santana drew a walk, Yan Gomes sliced a single to right field, scoring Napoli and giving the Indians a 5-1 lead. In his first three starts previous year Harvey was 3-0 with a 3.50 ERA.
Cleveland scored twice in the fifth, then added three in the sixth to chase Harvey, who allowed five runs on six hits over 5⅔ innings. He is 9-19 since winning the 2014 AL Cy Young Award.
Even in a relatively stress-free afternoon, Collins’ overarching desperation to steady the Mets (5-6) could be seen late in Sunday’s cakewalk. It was the first four strikout inning by a Mets pitcher since Mike Stanton fanned four on August 3, 2004 and only the third such occurrence in club history.
OUR PICK: The Indians are 10-2 in Kluber’s last 12 interleague starts and are 13-5 in his last 18 home starts against an opponent with a losing record.
The Mets hit more homers in the fifth inning than they had in their first eight games combined. Michael Conforto knocked in two runs with a pair of doubles, furthering his grip on his newly earned No. 3 spot in the lineup.
Cespedes and Walker have gone deep in both contests – and have three apiece on the year – as NY has scored 11 total runs at Progressive Field.
Michael Conforto and Alejandro De Aza also homered to boost a team that had scored 20 runs all season going into the game.
Matz came into Sunday off his first major league loss, a disaster of a season debut that had his ERA at 37.80.
But then Harvey suddenly lost it.
“We’ve got to figure out why he loses it so fast”, Collins said to Guardado.
“Nobody right now is more frustrated than I am, not just today, but the last couple of starts”, said Harvey. 1B Lucas Duda batted two more runs in before the side was retired.
Asdrubal Cabrera’s surprise bunt down the third base line knocked in Granderson and extended the rally. Again Davis settled under the ball, and again Davis lost it in the sun. The Indians have some quality bats and are coming into this game off the back of consequtive wins, Tyler Naquin, Francisco Lindor and Rajai Davis all had multiple hits in their last two games and the Indians will be looking to ride the momentum into this weekend.
Catcher Kevin Plawecki and Collins noted the sharpness of Matz’s curveball, and Plawecki credited Matz for using his fastball early to set up his other pitches. He now leads the Mets with five doubles and six extra-base hits this season.
“Any time you’re in the heart of the lineup in a spot you can do some damage and drive in some runs, I think that’s really exciting”, Conforto said.
Indians: OF Lonnie Chisenhall (sore left wrist) is expected to return Wednesday.
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DeGrom, who made the NL All-Star team last season, will be on the list from three to seven days.
