Updated from version posted at the final out.
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The blast gave Cespedes three homers in his last seven at-bats, and four extra-base hits in eight at-bats dating back to the start of Saturday’s game.
The New York Mets star proved he has what it takes to be an ace when he tossed eight scoreless innings in a 2-0 win over the San Francisco Giants.
The Giants also made a pair of sparkling defensive plays.
San Francisco now resides in the first wild-card spot, 1 1/2 games ahead of the Cardinals.
The Giants dropped to second in the NL West after entering the day with a half-game lead on the Dodgers. Some of these games, we’ve scored runs and the pitching wasn’t as sharp. But I like the way they’re coming out every day, their energy in the dugout. That’s what you need at this point. “For me, I was just anxious about the score”.
Syndergaard pitched into the seventh inning for the first time since July 3.
Curtis Granderson defiled Samardzija’s no-hitter with a double down the left field line and Yoenis Cespedes followed with his third home run in two games – a drive hit so high and so deep that it should be visible again in 2177 (portions of the Southern Hemisphere only).
The homer was Cespedes’ third in the two weekend wins. “He’s a heck of a hitter, I played with him in Oakland and I know what he can do”.
“We’ve had a tough time, but if you’re going to win, your good players have to play good”, Collins said. It was a attractive game with the pitching on both sides.
“This guy (Cespedes) carried them past year, and he’s hot right now, and he hit a pretty good pitch”.
It was turning into such a stabilizing start for Samardzija (10-9), who has spent the past dozen starts fishtailing on the road while struggling with the age-old distinction between an adjustment and an overcorrection.
Samardzija had been 0-3 with an 8.72 in nine previous outings against the Mets. The lone exception came in the third inning, when he didn’t get the call on a full-count curveball to Syndergaard as Bochy barked from the dugout rail.
Samardzija controlled the strike zone from there, and put together a particularly impressive sequence when he struck out Granderson and Cespedes in the fourth.
Then Yoenis Cespedes took it to another level.
Said Syndergaard: “I thought it would be the best decision to hand it over to the best closer in the game and get a win and get back on the bus and go to St. Louis”. “Those eight innings, it just felt like it was me and Rene out there”.
The defense backed Samardzija, with shortstop Brandon Crawford making a backhanded diving pickup on the first play of the game and throwing out speedy Jose Reyes, and Panik charging a Reyes chopper in the sixth and flipping the ball with his glove to first base. Syndergaard won consecutive games for the first time since June. If the New York Mets are going to make a late push for the postseason, Syndergaard will be a big reason why.
It was particularly untimely with Samardzija having perhaps his best outing of the second half. Instead, his no-hit bid could not survive the leadoff batter in the seventh. The ball cleared the left field bleachers before touching down on a cement walkway.
“I just hope that everyone has it in their head that we can keep going out there, we can keep winning and have fun and keep playing well”, said Cespedes, whose two-run homer in the seventh inning was the difference on a night that belonged to the pitchers. That didn’t even look like it was a good pitch and he hit it that far. “He golfed it”, Collins said with a little smile.
“I’ve been working really hard in my side work, just trying to get more fluid and get more rhythm to home plate, and to try not to be too predictable with runners on base”, Syndergaard said.
San Francisco’s first two baserunners were thrown out trying to steal second.
“They executed both of them”, Bochy said.
Those were all the runs needed for the dominating Noah Syndergaard.
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Cespedes insisted he had more important things to do than mark where it landed. “I’m getting a little exhausted.’ A lot of guys wouldn’t have said that”.
