MAC HOPEFUL
Mets’ McNeil thinks rib injury is minor and he won’t miss many games
The Mets welcomed two refreshing additions in their fifth win of the season Wednesday: strong starting pitching (from someone other than their twotime Cy Young winner) and defense.
Rick Porcello earned his first Mets win, and 150th of his career, by plowing through the Nationals lineup in the team’s 3-1 se- ries-finale victory. The right-hander retired his final 10 consecutive batters and 18 of his last 21 in what looked like an effortless outing for the New Jersey native after a rocky first inning.
Porcello, 31, allowed just one run on five hits with four strikeouts and no walks across seven innings. The for- mer Red Sox pitcher looked poised to pitch a complete game, but manager Luis Rojas opted to use Seth Lugo for the final two innings as the Mets improved to a 5-8 record on the season.
“Rick of course wants to finish the game,” Rojas said. “He wants to go back out there. He’s that tough competitor.”
Lugo and Porcello combined to retire the last 16 Nationals hitters in the win. The rest of the Mets bullpen received much-needed rest heading into the team’s first off-day of the season Thursday.
The Mets’ defensive performance behind Porcello on Wednesday night was stellar. Right fielder Michael Conforto gunned down Juan Soto at third base in the fourth inning as rookie Andres Gimenez made sure to hold down the tag while Soto overslid. JD Davis followed that play with an incredible diving snag at third base and fired a fastball on his knees to get Eric Thames out at first base to end the inning.
The Mets entered the game Wednesday tied with three other clubs for the worst defensive runs saved (-4) in the league. The Mets made positive strides toward reversing that statistic in the series finale.
“What a great defensive game we played,” Rojas said. “From Conforto’s throw to the plays that JD made … I’m glad JD is making a quick transition from left field to third base. This kid is a natural infielder. It’s nothing new for him. To go from the outfield to the infield and bounce back, he needs reps for that to remind his muscles.”
Porcello bounced back from his first two outings of the year – which featured nine earned runs and 12 hits over just six innings – by letting those starts slip from his memory. He stopped trying to do too much because his Achilles heel in his entire career is being overly competitive.
As calm as he was on Wednesday, he’ll still be unsatisfied unless the Mets reach their goal.
“We haven’t done anything, so I don’t feel any weight lifted off my shoulders until we accomplish that goal and that’s winning a championship this year. That’s why we’re all here,” Porcello said. “This season more than ever, the emphasis on winning and seeing what we can do as a team is most important because we’re playing 60 games.
“Guys aren’t looking at their own stat lines. Nobody’s going to accumulate the numbers that you would normally over the course of the season. Those kinds of things that maybe motivate guys or drive guys, it’s hard to focus on that because it’s a shortened season. So in my mind, the most important thing is what we can do as a team: winning.”