Stroman labors early, still gets his first win as a Met
ATLANTA — Marcus Stroman was just good enough to earn his first Mets win Thursday night.
The veteran right-hander labored through the first inning of the Mets’ 10-8 victory over the Braves at SunTrust Park, needing 33 pitches, but was more efficient as the game progressed.
He lasted 5 ¹/3 innings and allowed three runs (two earned) on four hits and four walks with five strikeouts, departing after 96 pitches. The only earned runs against Stroman came on homers by Matt Joyce and Josh Donaldson.
“This team, Atlanta, one through nine is pretty special,” Stroman said. “So it’s a priority on making your pitches and not leaving anything over the plate, especially to those one through five hitters, they are pretty special.”
Stroman surrendered four earned runs over six innings in a no-decision against the Nationals last Friday. In his Mets debut Aug. 3, he received a no-decision after allowing three earned runs over 4 ¹/3 innings in Pittsburgh.
“I feel like me and Wilson [Ramos] are going to start getting in a good groove here,” Stroman said. “We are starting to get pretty familiar with each other. I am just looking forward to the next start because I think I truly am going to get better and better each one.”
Joe Panik was moved to the two-hole in the batting order, as Mickey Callaway tries to find the right answers with Jeff McNeil on the injured list. Amed Rosario has replaced McNeil atop the batting order. Callaway said he and hitting coach Chili Davis decided Panik was well-suited to bat second.
“He can maybe pull the ball in the hole if Rosie gets on,” Callaway said of Panik, who went 1-for-5 with a walk and two runs scored. “We even flirted with the idea of leading him off and hitting Rosie two, but Rosie leading off [Wednesday] night and doing a fine job we thought we would leave well enough alone there, but he’s swinging the bat well.”
Left-hander David Peterson, the organization’s top pick in the 2017 draft, has allowed one earned run or fewer in four of his last five starts for Double-A Binghamton. Overall, he is 3-5 with a 4.00 ERA in 21 starts for Binghamton.