Samardzija remained winless in four career starts against the Mets.
Advertisement
Everywhere they looked Sunday night, the Mets left hints of a renaissance, beating the Giants, 2-0, to salvage a split of this four-game series.
New York Mets pitcher Noah Syndergaard works against the San Francisco Giants in the first inning of a baseball game, Sunday, Aug. 21, 2016, in San Francisco. NY has been playing better lately, averaging 4.9 runs per game, more than their season average of 3.8.
After two demoralizing defeats here, the Mets seemed revitalized with the early offense provided by Cespedes.
Cespedes has now homered three times over the past two games and driven in five runs over that span.
Marlins 3, Pirates 1 • Former Cardinal Xavier Scruggs hit his first major-league home run and David Phelps (Hazelwood West High) pitched six scoreless innings to help Miami beat host Pittsburgh. None of the three base runners he allowed got past second base.
The slugger’s shot off Matt Moore (7-10) in the third inning went 457 feet, according to Statcast.com (see full recap).
“When he’s on top of his game, I don’t know who could hit him”. “He got that one right there”. In the seventh, Cespedes hammered an 89-mph fastball from Jake Peavy for his 24th homer of the season. It was the seventh four-hit game of his career and second this season.
He is the 10th active manager, including the Giants’ Bruce Bochy, to reach the milestone.
Yoenis Cespedes connects on one of his two home runs in the third inning against the Giants. I’ll throw two or three pitches in succession, and then my heart rate will start elevating a little bit.
The duel between Syndergaard and Samardzija was in stark contrast to the first three games of this series, when the teams combined for 40 runs. OF Angel Pagan was kept out of the lineup with tightness in his groin. “We’re just being cautious, he said”.
“We’re going to lose Walk for a couple of days, probably, but we’re going in there healthy”, Collins said about the showdown with the Cardinals at Busch Stadium. That line drive he went for, he felt something, we’re just being cautious.
The Giants have set their rotation ahead of their pivotal three-game series at Dodger Stadium next week, with the trio of Madison Bumgarner, Johnny Cueto and Moore set to start the August 23-25 series, Bochy said.
In the same way Mets personnel have talked of Yoenis Cespedes’ return as being a key to a late surge, a return to form for Noah Syndergaard could be just as vital. He returned from the disabled list Friday after missing two weeks with a strained right quadriceps.
“These guys won a pennant last year, and they won due to their pitching”, said Bochy, whose resurgent lineup struggled against 43-year-old Bartolo Colon and then against Synergaard’s firmer stuff on back-to-back days.
OUR PICK: The Mets are 7-1 in Syndergaard’s last eight starts on Sunday, are 10-4 in his last 14 road starts, and are 11-5 in his last 16 outings when facing an opponent with a winning record.
Advertisement
The flamethrowing right-hander matched longest scoreless start of career Sunday against the Giants. He never previously pitched at AT&T Park.Samardzija had been 0-3 with an 8.72 in nine previous outings against the Mets.James Loney and Rene Rivera had the only other hits for the Mets, who out-hit the Giants 4-3.NOTES: San Francisco manager Bruce Bochy announced, as expected, the Giants will skip their fifth starter on Monday’s day off and start their three-game series against the Los Angeles Dodgers on Tuesday night with ace LHP Madison Bumgarner.
