Mets’ Thor de force
Syndergaard shines at Fenway
Thor-get about it. The Red Sox ran into a flame-throwing, flaxenhaired and flat-out dominating buzzsaw named Noah “Thor” Syndergaard last night at Fenway Park.
The Red Sox were powerless to do much beyond flail away with their bats and wait for the curtain to fall on New
York’s Thor show, which it finally did with the
Mets 8-0 winners in the first game of the three-game set.
Syndergaard (12-3) lasted seven innings, and allowed just three hits, all singles, with three walks and six strikeouts.
Anytime there was traffic on the basepaths — the Red Sox had two runners on just twice — Syndergaard bore down harder to squelch the feeble opportunities.
“The stuff was there, obviously — good changeup, good slider,” said Red Sox manager Alex Cora. “We put a little bit of pressure on him when Ian (Kinsler) led off with the basehit, but then we didn’t get a hit. Stuff-wise, he’s one of the best in the big leagues. You can see it.”
The Red Sox’ best chance came in the third inning, when Kinsler stole two bases and Jackie Bradley Jr. swiped another. But New York second baseman Jeff McNeil made a terrific stop of a sharp grounder by Andrew Benintendi and threw it to a hustling Syndergaard for the inningending force at first base. In the seventh, Kinsler singled with one out, but Syndergaard picked him off first base.
“He did a good job throughout the game later on to slow down the running game,” said Cora. “Credit to him. He made an adjustment. That’s what the good ones do. I know everybody knows you can run on him, but today he made a conscious effort of slowing us down and he did a good job.”
The Red Sox were not helped by a polar-opposite performance by their pitching staff, especially the bullpen.
Emergency starter William Cuevas, who took the mound because Hector Velazquez was sick, was not too bad. Cuevas allowed two runs in his two-plus innings. He also struck out four, including fanning the side in the second inning.
The real damage by New York came against Red Sox relievers, first Robby Scott, and then two relievers later against Tyler Thornburg.
After Cuevas allowed an infield single to the leadoff batter Amed Rosario, Cora took out Cuevas with a pitch count of 29. Cora wanted Scott, a southpaw, to face New York’s leftyheavy lineup.
The plan did not work. Scott retired McNeil but hit the next batter before allowing a three-run home run to Jay Bruce that pushed the Mets’ lead to 4-0.
Scott loaded the bases with a walk, another hit batter and another walk. The result was Scott walking off the mound, replaced by Brian Johnson.
“William threw the ball well and the leadoff guy gets on, we have three lefties in a row, good spot for him and it just didn’t happen,” said Cora. “We’ll take a look at it. He’s been inconsistent throughout the season, actually even in spring training. But hopefully we can figure something out and he can finish the season strong.”
Johnson did allow a twoout home run in the fourth, which was his first full inning. Otherwise, he was actually quite effective, allowing only that run and one other hit over his 42⁄3 innings, in which he struck out four batters.
In the eighth, he gave way to Thornburg, who delivered an effort worse than Scott’s.
Thornburg began his brief evening with a walk. An out later, Austin Jackson belted a two-run homer. Another out later, Thornburg surrendered a solo home run to Rosario and the Mets were up, 8-0.