GOTTA GO TO MONELL
HOT METS BURN GIANTS ON CATCHER’S DOUBLE IN NINTH
SAN FRANCISCO — Jon Niese picked the right night for his top pitching performance of the season.
The Mets lineup was back to barely breathing a day after hammering the Dodgers for eight runs, but Niese matched the zeroes his offense was producing Monday with his own brand of filth.
Niese’s brilliance sustained his team into the ninth, when a threerun outburst let the Mets celebrate a 30 victory over the Giants.
The Mets ( 4341) won their second straight and are guaranteed no worse than a .500 road trip along thewest coast.
“We don’t play very well on the west coast so to get off to this start is huge for us,” said manager Terry Collins, whose Mets have won three of four against the Dodgers and Giants.
Niese ( 48) allowed three hits and two walks over eight scoreless innings and lowered his ERA to 3.58— nearly a full run lower than it was on June 5. The lefthander hadn’t won since May 9 at Philadelphia, but pitched to a respectable 3.00 ERA over five starts in June.
“We executed the game plan,” said Niese who threw just 81 pitches. “We knew coming into the game they were going to be aggressive and the plan was to pound the bottom of the zone.”
Johnny Monell delivered the big hit, a tworun double in the ninth against Santiago Casilla, and Juan Lagares’ RBI single later in the inning provided extra protection. Michael Cuddyer’s single and Kirk Nieuwenhuis’ double leading off the inning against Sergio Romo had sparked the rally.
“I’m glad we scored some runs for [ Niese] for a change,” Collins said.
Lagares’ boneheaded maneuver on the bases in the eighth cost the Mets a chance to break the scoreless tie. Lagares was on first when Curtis Granderson hit a bloop to left that landed between three surrounding Giants. On the play, Lagares had retreated to first base to tag up and was thrown out by left fielder Gregor Blanco in a close force play at second.
Ruben Tejada followed with a walk, and the Mets had runners on second and third after Daniel Murphy’s groundout— a ball on which third baseman Matt Duffy hesitated, costing the Giants the double play. But Wilmer Flores was retired by Romo to kill the rally.
Chris Heston, who nohit the Mets in his last appearance against them on June 9 at Citi Field, fired 7 ¹ / ₃ scoreless innings Monday, allowing three hits and four walks.
Niese encountered his first resistance
of the night in the sixth, when he loaded the bases with two outs before retiring Buster Posey to keep the game scoreless.
“I kind of lost my feel for everything for a few batters,” Niese said.
Ehire Adrianza and Matt Duffy walked in succession with two outs after Joaquin Arias had singled leading off the inning, but Niese received a visit from pitching coach Dan Warthen and retired Posey on a grounder to third.
Collins employed a lineup that placed slumping Lucas Duda on the bench and moved Cuddyer to first base, with Nieuwenhuis— whowas promoted from Triple A Las Vegas earlier in the day— in left field.
Cuddyer said he and Duda need to boost this sagging offense, which had a rare breakout game on Sunday in Los Angeles.
“You’re talking about two key parts of the middle of the lineup that really haven’t been doing a great job over the last month,” Cuddyer said before the game. “If we can get going that changes it, especially if everybody continues to hit like they did in the [ Dodgers] series.”
Heston’s brokenbat single in the third accounted for the Giants’ only hit against Niese until Arias singled leading off the sixth.
The Mets had opportunities early, but couldn’t deliver. In the fourth, Cuddyer reached second on an infield single and Duffy’s throwing error, but was left stranded when Nieuwenhuis was retired.
Aninning earlier, Granderson took secondo n Heston’s errant pickoff attempt, but Tejada couldn’t deliver a two out hit.