But two starts after struggling against this team in NY, he threw first-pitch strikes to 20 of 27 batters, including 12 of the first 14 he faces.
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“And that’s what we did”.
The lack of clutch hitting haunted the Cubs into the ninth inning when they loaded the bases with no outs but failed to score as the Mets wrapped up a 2-1 victory. He’s also gone just 3-4 since starting the year 9-0. Rene Rivera gave the Mets (50-43) the lead with a two-out RBI single in the ninth off Cubs closer Hector Rondon. Michael Conforto’s throw went toward the third-base line, but Rivera made a nice adjustment. “This was a great game for him to build off of”. “And thank God I did”. Colon comes off of a 5-3 win at Philadelphia with three unearned runs allowed over 5.2 innings.
TIGERS 1, TWINS 0: Matt Boyd (1-2) allowed three hits in six innings, sending last-place Minnesota to a loss against Detroit just hours after it announced the firing of general manager Terry Ryan.
Tuesday’s game was originally touted as a showdown between two aces – Mets starter Noah Syndergaard and Cubs counterpart Jake Arrieta.
Neither figured in decisions, but both pitched well, especially Arrieta, who bounced back from recent poor outings.
Leake (7-7) struck out a season-best 11, one shy of his career high, and allowed one run and six hits in six innings.
“That was a little more like it”, Arrieta said moments after sitting down in the interview room. Chicago managed to take two of three games from the Rangers despite batting just.165 and slugging.209 as a team. It was a tough game overall really. Syndergaard on the other side he was good. “Just try to grind at-bats, that’s what we’re so good at doing”. One out later, Calhoun hit a fielder’s choice to second, driving in Bandy with the go-ahead run, and Trout followed with his homer over the left-field fence.
Arrieta pitched five scoreless innings before he allowed a run and worked out of a jam in the seventh.
Pedro Strop struck out Neil Walker with runners on first and second in the eighth.
Syndergaard left after working 5 2/3 innings with the game tied 1-1. The Mets will send right-hander Bartolo Colon to the mound in hopes he can duplicate his performance of July 2, when he beat the Cubs in NY, allowing two runs and four hits over six frames. “My arm felt really loose and fluid even later in the game”. “I expect to pitch more like this, as far as the aggressiveness and keeping the ball down in the strike zone with everything”. “I’ve been trying to use the whole field like I did last year and earlier in the year”. He bent but didn’t break during Chicago’s onslaught at the beginning of the game.
With Jason Heyward at the plate, Syndergaard threw a wild pitch past catcher Rivera as Contreras sprinted for third.
Arrieta lined a double into left-center with two outs in the fourth and bolted around third on Tommy La Stella’s single. However, right fielder Michael Conforto fired a ideal strike to Rivera to tag Arrieta as he crossed the plate. The only offense the defending NL champs could generate against Arrieta came in the sixth inning, when Jose Reyes drove a ball into the right-field corner for a leadoff triple and scored Curtis Granderson’s sacrifice fly.
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New York Yankees’ Alex Rodriguez reacts as he rounds the bases with a home run during the second inning of a baseball game against the Baltimore Orioles Monday, July 18, 2016, at Yankee Stadium in New York. They improved to 6-24 when they do not homer.
