Noah Syndergaard became just the second pitcher in franchise history to homer twice in the same game, and backed it up with eight solid innings to lead the Mets to a 4-3 win over the Dodgers in L.A. on Wednesday.
Advertisement
The Dodgers jumped on Bartolo Colon (3-2) with four runs in the first inning. On the road trip, the Mets are 4-3 with four games still remaining.
The Mets’ offense outside of Syndergaard failed to produce any runs despite having runners in scoring position in both the sixth and seventh innings. Adrian Gonzalez led off the inning with a line drive to center field and was sent home two batters later on a groundout by Joc Pederson.
Syndergaard hit his first career homer on May 27, 2015 against Philadelphia, when he went 3 for 3.
Mets assistant general manager John Ricco said Syndergaard told the training staff after his May 1 start against the Giants that he “just didn’t feel right”.
But there’s also this: the reality we all live in today is different from the one it was last week thanks to Colon’s first career home run.
The game turned like a thunder-cloud from heaven in the top half of the fifth as the Norse god unloaded his second home run of the night, this time a three-run blast to left-centerfield.
Los Angeles Dodgers starting pitcher Kenta Maeda, of Japan, throws against the New York Mets during the first inning of a baseball game in Los Angeles, Wednesday, May 11, 2016.
Dodgers (17-17): Los Angeles counters with ace Clayton Kershaw in the finale of the four-game series at 7:10 PM. This comes on the heels of a strong start against the Dodgers Monday night from Matz, when he picked up the victory tossing six innings and allowing two runs with five strikeouts.
“For the pitcher to hit a breaking ball, backdoor, down and away and hit it out of the ballpark – you probably won’t see that again all year”, Roberts said.
The most worrisome crack might be Steven Matz, though: Matz recovered from a poor start to the season and has been lights-out since, posting a 1.09 ERA from his second appearance of the year onward.
Mets pitchers are 6-for-15 with two doubles, three homers, seven RBIs and four runs scored during this turn of the rotation. After Carl Crawford’s two-out single in the fourth inning, the next 11 Dodgers went down before Seager dropped a soft single into center field with one out in the eighth.
“As long as you keep your pitch count down, it doesn’t matter how you get outs”, he said.
The Dodgers did push across another run against Mets closer Jeurys Familia.
Advertisement
His only blemish this season is a five-run inning to the Miami Marlins last month in the only game he has lost. I thought we competed well tonight. “I don’t know how to explain it other than walking guys is how you get in trouble”.
