WRIGHT: CHALLENGE ACCEPTED
CAPTAIN VOWS TO SHOW METS HE DESERVES TO PLAY IN BIGS AGAIN:
SAN FRANCISCO — Jacob deGrom might be the NL Cy Young award front-runner, but he’s hardly the only compelling Mets starting pitcher these days.
Over the past five weeks, Zack Wheeler has been at least as dominant as his heralded teammate, raising hopes about what this rotation could become heading to 2019.
Friday night Wheeler received the deGrom treatment, as Mets bats went silent for him in a 7-0 loss to the Giants at AT&T Park.
The Mets, who lost for the fourth time in five games, managed just three hits against lefty Andrew Suarez and the Giants bullpen.
Wheeler allowed one earned run on four hits with nine strikeouts over seven innings, snapping his streak of 11 starts without a loss. The right-hander has pitched to a 1.04 ERA since the All-Star break, during which he has gone eight straight appearances of allowing two earned runs or fewer.
“It’s just consistency mechanically and trusting my stuff and going right after guys,” Wheeler said. “It’s staying in there and being healthy for the most part.”
DeGrom leads the major leagues with a 1.68 ERA, but he’s allowing about a half-run more per game than Wheeler since the All-Star break.
“It’s hard to compare your own guys,” manager Mickey Callaway said. “But they both have been going out there every five days and given us a chance to win and we haven’t always capitalized on that.”
Callaway was asked what has changed about Wheeler.
“I think it’s just getting on a roll and gaining confidence and knowing your stuff is going to play every time out,” he said. “You start putting the slider on top of the good fastball and then the changeup and split and the next thing you know you put together start after good start and that is what is happening right now.”
Wheeler carried a shutout into the seventh that was broken by Chris Shaw’s sacrifice fly. Brandon Belt’s leadoff double began the goahead rally.
The Giants seized the game in the eighth with six runs. Aramis Garcia’s leadoff homer against Robert Gsellman started the outburst. Belt stroked a two-run triple in the inning before Austin Slater added an RBI single. Gsellman, Daniel Zamora and Drew Smith were each charged for two runs in the inning. Jacob Rhame became the fourth reliever used in the eighth and recorded the final out. The Mets entered play with a 4.91 bullpen ERA that ranked 28th in the major leagues.
Jeff McNeil’s first-inning double stood as the Mets’ only hit against Suarez until Austin Jackson’s bloop single in the seventh. But with runners on the corners, Jay Bruce hit into an inning-ending double play that kept the game scoreless.