Thor falls victim to pressure

Angels manager Joe Maddon believed Noah Syndergaard was “just amped up being on the soil” back in New York, but instead the Yankees just pounded him into the dirt.

Syndergaard’s old crosstown rivals ambushed him on Tuesday night at Yankee Stadium, scoring four runs in the first inning against the former Met and knocking him out of the game by the third in what became a 9-1 Yankees win over the Angels.

Pitching in New York for the first time since turning down the Mets’ qualifying offer to sign a one-year, $21 million contract with the Angels last offseason, Syndergaard got tagged for five runs on seven hits and one walk while striking out none over 2 ¹/3 innings.

“I was definitely feeling a little bit of pressure, a little tension in the first inning,” Syndergaard said after the Angels’ sixth straight loss. “Baseball’s a funny thing. You can have a really good start and then six days later, it’s the complete opposite. It’s pretty obvious this team’s on a little bit of a skid right now. It would have been nice to come out and turn that around but I dropped the ball pretty seriously and didn’t get the job done.”

Syndergaard indicated the pressure he felt, though, was not related to his return to New York.

“No, not really,” said Syndergaard, who would be on turn to face the Mets on June 12 in Los Angeles. “City’s the same, still an awesome place. Still enjoyed my off day [Monday] by going to Central Park and playing catch with [teammate Reid Detmers]. So that was nice.”

The clunker raised Syndergaard’s ERA by nearly a full run to 4.02 through eight starts. He was coming off his best outing of the season, tossing eight innings of one-run ball against the Rangers last week, but in the start before that he was crushed for six runs (four earned) in twothirds of an inning.

Syndergaard, who pitched just two innings over his final two seasons with the Mets because of Tommy John surgery in 2020, is still missing the high velocity he had before the procedure. He sat 92-95 mph with his sinker and fastball Tuesday.

While Syndergaard said he felt “really good” physically, the results did not match up against the Yankees.

“You gotta be patient,” Maddon said. “It’s one of those situations where you can’t jump to conclusions, I don’t think. You just be patient, trust the guy and get him ready for his next start.”