This wasn’t just outside noise from the fans, the Chicago media and scouts following the Cubs.
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Rivera had the third single in the ninth – following hits by Loney and Asdrubal Cabrera – off Hector Rondon (1-2) as the Mets beat the Cubs in a rematch of in last year’s NL Championship Series.
Jarrod Dyson hit a grand slam off Jeff Manship as the Royals beat Cleveland 7-3 and Mike Trout hit a three-run homer to help the Angels rally from four runs down and beat the Texas Rangers 9-5.
Mets closer Jeurys Familia made it stand, but not before the Cubs loaded the bases against him with none out on a pair of walks and bunt single. But Familia got pinch-hitter Matt Szczur to ground into a forceout at home, and he then coaxed a ground ball double play from potential NL MVP Kris Bryant to end the threat and the game. Familia improved to 33-for-33 in save conversions. “There’s a reason he has all those saves”.
The Mets are 2-6 in their last 8 road games and the under is 19-7-1 in their last 27 overall while going 19-7-1 in their last 27 on grass.
Familia had a shaky but ultimately successful ninth as the Mets held on for a 2-1 victory. More important, Syndergaard’s fastball touched 100 miles per hour in the first inning and showed no signs of significantly waning late in his 5⅔-inning outing. After taking a long rest during the All-Star break and beyond, a more in-the-moment Arrieta looked calm, cool, collected and in control all evening.
Collins on Syndergaard: “The worn out arm obviously is gone”. His command wasn’t like we normally see it. “That is a great game to build off of”.
New York Mets starting pitcher Noah Syndergaard flips the ball into the air as he watches manager Terry Collins come out to the mound and take Syndergaard out with two outs in the sixth inning of a baseball game against the Chicago Cubs Tuesday, July 19, 2016, in Chicago.
Rivera made up for his mistake in the next inning with a fantastic tag to nail Arrieta when he tried to score on a single to right with two outs.
Like Arrieta, Syndergaard had not pitched since July 8. I knew I could get a double play easy on him. “And I threw that away. Those errors, you learn from them and you move forward”.
The 23-year-old righty proceeded to strike out eight batters while allowing only one run (unearned) on seven hits and two walks, though he did need 105 pitches to make it through just 5.2 innings-which is perfectly excusable when facing a notoriously patient Cubs lineup that leads the majors in walk rate (10.7 percent).
“That’s really when I’m at my best, when I’m challenging guys on the first pitch putting them on the defensive side”, he said.
After the Cubs captured all seven games versus the Mets in 2015, the Mets swept four games from the Cubs at Citi Field between June 30 and July 3.
Fernandez pitched 6⅓ innings and became the fastest pitcher to reach 500 strikeouts in the fewest innings: 400.
Syndergaard was spared a hard-luck loss when the Mets eked out their first run. As quiet as the Mets were at the plate against Arrieta, they did muster a tying run in the sixth. Jose Reyes produced a leadoff triple into the right-field corner and scored on Granderson’s sacrifice fly. “Was he as sharp as he can be? No”. “He was making good pitches and I was just fighting them off. That was a good sign”.
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Kevin Gausman (1-7) also allowed Brian McCann’s sacrifice fly in the third and fell to 0-1 in three starts against NY this season despite a 1.31 ERA over 20 2-3 innings.
