Syndergaard amazin’ in Win
Bats remain quiet as 'Thor' carries Mets to 2nd straight victory
Two hits never seemed like so much for the Mets.
Noah Syndergaard threw strikes, recording so many easy outs Friday that it was easy to overlook another in a long line of ugly games for his lineup.
But when you win, the futility becomes easier to accept.
“If they all of a sudden start giving us more points for hits, then we’ll start worrying about it,” Curtis Granderson said after the Mets beat the Reds 21 at Citi Field. “We were able to sneak two across and that is all Noah needed tonight.”
Granderson’s homer leading off the bottom of the first and Dilson Herrera’s fifthinning triple were the Mets’ only hits on a night Syndergaard seized control and didn’t let go until Jeurys Familia took the ball for a perfect ninth.
The Mets (3837) won their second straight, despite scoring only two runs for the second straight game. Over their last nine games, the Mets have scored 13 runs total.
Syndergaard allowed one run on five hits over eight innings a day after Jacob de Grom pitched a shutout over eight.
“There’s nothing wrong with our pitching,” manager Terry Collins said. “We’ve just got to give them some help.
“We’ve got to somehow figure out how to kick start this offense and get them going.”
Syndergaard (34) avoided trouble for most of the night, but faced a small scare in the eighth after Herrera booted a potential doubleplay grounder. Herrera recovered to get the out at first base, but Chris Dominguez stood at second base as the tying run before Syndergaard got the next two outs.
“You’ve just got to bear down, get back on the mound,” Syndergaard said. “I trust my defense 100 percent to make plays behind me, so I just got back on the mound, forgot about it and moved on.”
Johnny Cueto (45) frus trated the Mets by holding them to two earned runs on two hits with three walks and six strikeouts over six innings. The righthander departed with the Mets ahead 21.
Lucas Duda’s walk with the bases loaded gave the Mets the 21 lead in the fifth against Cueto, but a chance to break open the game was missed when the ensuing batter, Michael Cuddyer, lined out to center field to end the inning.
Herrera smashed a twoout triple to begin the rally and the Mets pro
ceeded to load the bases on walks to Granderson and Eric Campbell before Cueto threw ball four to Duda for a run. Overall, Cueto has walked just 19 batters over 96 ²/₃ innings this season.
“When he walked Campbell, I was shocked,” Collins said. “When Duda came up, I said, ‘He’s not going to walk Duda.’ We were all surprised, but fortunately it helped us.”
Syndergaard surrendered a run in the second, after allowing consecutive singles to Jay Bruce and Brayan Pena leading off the inning. Eugenio Suarez’s RBI fielder’s choice made it 11.
“I just had everything working for me,” Syndergaard said. “I don’t think it’s much different from my previous starts. I was just able to execute and get quick outs. I knew this team was going to be a fairly aggressive lineup.”
In his five home starts, Syndergaard is 31 with a 1.89 ERA.
“You’re always going to be more comfortable at home,” he said. “It’s fun to go out there and pitch at Citi in front of the best fans in baseball.”
Granderson’s homer in the first inning gave the Mets a 10 lead. The blast gave Granderson four homers in six games and extended his team lead to 12.
“I’m going up there and trying not to do too much,” Granderson said. “And I’m getting some good results out of it.”