THOR HURT IN WILD
Syndergaard exits game with hamstring strain
Just as the Mets rotation was beginning to bloom, an injury to their top-2 starter raised a major red flag. Noah Syndergaard was removed from the seventh inning of his start with a right hamstring strain during the Mets’ 8-7 win over the Cardinals on Saturday night at Citi Field. Syndergaard faced just one batter in that inning before Mets manager Mickey Callaway and trainer Brian Chicklo emerged from the dugout to check on him. Syndergaard grabbed his right hamstring and gingerly limped off the mound.
Syndergaard was in the Mets clubhouse after the game when he was seen bolting for the exit doors. Mets PR announced he was getting treatment and would not be made available for comment. Callaway, too, was curt in his description for the level of concern in regards to Syndergaard’s injury.
“Right now, hamstring strain. We’re going to reevaluate in the morning and kind of go from there, at this point,” Callaway said.
Before leaving with the injury, Saturday night was hardly a quality start from Syndergaard. He struggled to record a shutout inning but battled to 102 pitches for the night. By the end, the right-hander allowed five runs (four earned) on six hits (one home run) with two walks, five strikeouts and five stolen bases against him over 6+ shaky innings.
Pete Alonso set the offense’s tone in his first at-bat of the Mets’ win on Saturday. The Mets home-run basher slugged his longest dinger of the season to the face of the third deck in left field in the first inning. The ball traveled 458 feet, per Statcast. But it was just another home run in a historic rookie year for Alonso, who trotted around the bases having crushed his 23rd long ball of the season.
“That one felt really damn good,” Alonso said. “It’s funny,
(Mets COO) Jeff (Wilpon) was kind of busting my chops before batting practice. He was like, ‘I saw Yoenis Cespedes go up there, I’ve seen Albert Pujols go up there, but I haven’t seen you go up there.’ There ya go. There it is, Jeff.”
Edwin Diaz took the ninth inning with an 8-6 lead looking for his 15th save of the year. Although Diaz accomplished it, by the skin of his teeth, it was really Jeff McNeil who saved the game for the Mets.
Cardinals pinch-runner Jack Flaherty represented the tying run on first base when Kolten Wong skied a popup to no man’s land in shallow right. Both McNeil and Michael Conforto sprinted in an attempt to make the catch, but the ball thudded onto the grass. Flaherty rounded toward home plate just as McNeil’s missile of a throw reached catcher Wilson Ramos with a second to spare. Flaherty was tagged out as the packed Citi Field crowd breathed a sigh of relief.
“I did everything I can to go out there and try to make the catch,” McNeil said. “Mike goes sliding, I go in there leaping. Once the ball hit the ground I knew they were going to send him. They were going to try to tie the game right there. I was kind of lucky, I was behind the ball so I got something on the throw.”
“That was just a whirlwind of emotions,” Alonso said of McNeil’s game-ending play. “Jeff Made an absolute dime of a throw.”
Alonso is three homers shy of tying Darryl Strawberry for the Mets’ single-season rookie home run record. But his 23rd blast of the year placed Alonso in an impressive category that will have baseball enthusiasts turning heads nationwide.
The Mets rookie tied Jose Canseco (23 homers in 1986) for fifth on the all-time list for home runs before the All-Star break, courtesy of Elias Sports Bureau.
The Mets (33-36) enter Game No. 70 sitting a season-high 7.5 games behind the first-place Braves in the National League East. As we quickly approach the halfway-point of the year, the division is on the brink of sprinting away from the Mets. General manager Brodie Van Wagenen has not altered his winning philosophy for a team that is excellent at evading that fleeting .500 mark. On Saturday, the GM made roster moves that he hopes will help the Mets return to contention.
“I don’t think my mindset or the mission statement for this franchise has changed,” Van Wagenen said. “Our goal
is to win now and to win in the future. The moves that we make will have an eye toward that. My hope and my belief is that we can be in contention over the course of the next several weeks and continue to push that gas pedal down.”
The Mets acquired righthander Brooks Pounders from Cleveland for cash considerations and recalled righty Chris Flexen from Triple-A Syracuse. In corresponding moves, the Mets optioned right-hander Tim Peterson to Syracuse and designated lefthander Hector Santiago for assignment. In addition, the Mets returned righty Tyler Bashlor as the 26th man.
Despite the Mets inability to string together winning streaks, Van Wagenen has not wavered in his belief that the Mets can compete for the playoffs. The GM said sitting 7 1/2 games back is a disappointment, especially after Jeurys Familia’s eighth-inning implosion in which he blew the Mets lead in a brutal loss to the Cardinals on Friday night.
“Our season so far has had moments of progress and moments of signs where we be