ZERO TO ZEROES
VARGAS REDEEMS HIMSELF WITH FIVE SCORELESS IN METS’ WIN
METS 2 MARLINS 0
Jason Vargas went from simulated game to simulating a respectable major league pitcher.
True, these were the Marlins — a glorified Triple-A team on which gaping holes abound — but anybody who witnessed Vargas’ previous three debacles for the Mets had to understand that Monday night represented progress for the veteran left-hander.
Vargas went five and fly, and the bullpen handled the rest in a 2-0 victory at Citi Field that gave the Mets a fourgame winning streak.
Vargas, who was skipped in the rotation last week so he could throw a simulated game to recalibrate, tossed five shutout innings in which he allowed two hits and one walk, striking out seven. In the process, his ERA shrank from 13.86 to 9.87.
“When you get skipped or get pushed back it just means you are not doing the job,” Vargas said. “So you want to get back out there and not prolong the thought you are already having.”
This was more what the Mets expected when they signed Vargas in spring training to a two-year contract worth $16 million.
“We felt we are going to know what we get with him,” manager Mickey Callaway said. “He’s going to go out there and throw strikes. He’s going to keep you in the game, even if it’s just for five innings, but that’s the reason we signed him, so we really need him to do that.”
Callaway pieced the final four innings together, with Paul Sewald, Jerry Blevins, AJ Ramos, Seth Lugo and Jeurys Familia, who combined to hold the Marlins scoreless. Lugo received help in the eighth from Brandon Nimmo, whose diving catch on Brian Anderson’s sinking line drive ended the inning and stole a run from the Marlins.
The Mets (24-19) have won all four meetings against the Marlins this sea- son. In those games, Mets pitchers have posted a 2.00 ERA against a lineup that was gutted in the offseason.
Wilmer Flores’ pinch-hit RBI single in the seventh gave the Mets their second run and a 2-0 cushion. It was the latest late-inning contribution from Flores, whose sacrifice fly in the ninth inning Saturday scored the winning run against the Diamondbacks.
Ramos escaped a bases-loaded jam in the sixth to keep the Mets’ lead at 1-0. After Blevins walked Justin Bour to load the bases — Blevins appeared to get squeezed on a 2-2 pitch by plate umpire Bruce Dreckman — Ramos entered to strike out Derek Dietrich for the final out.
Vargas didn’t encounter trouble until the fifth, when he walked Cameron Maybin and allowed a single to Miguel Rojas. But following a mound visit from pitching coach Dave Eiland, the lefty struck out Lewis Bronson and Elieser Hernandez to end the inning. Vargas’ night began with nine straight outs.
“The more weak contact you get or mis-hit balls or swings and misses that you get are going to give you more confidence and you are going to feel about throwing those pitches,” Vargas said. “It was nice to get some mis-hits early and it gave me a good idea it was moving in the right direction and doing some things it hadn’t done before.”
Asdrubal Cabrera’s RBI double in the third gave the Mets their first run. Cabrera, who smacked a pinch-hit homer Sunday that sparked the Mets’ victory over the Diamondbacks, followed Amed Rosario’s single with a shot into the right-field corner for his 27th RBI.
The rookie Hernandez limited the Mets to one earned run on five hits over five innings. The right-hander was making his second career start and fourth appearance overall. But in the end, he couldn’t match Vargas.
“That was much more Vargas-like than what we have been watching,” Callaway said.