Game 11 of 162
Mets 5 - Padres 0 (Citi Field, Flushing, NY)
Mets record: 6-5
Mets streak: Won 1
WP - Max Scherzer (2-1)
LP - Yu Darvish (0-1)
Seat on the Korner:
We select the star of the game and virtually invite him to a Seat on the Korner, just as Ralph Kiner used to do for his studio postgame show on WOR-channel 9 broadcasts in the early decades of the Mets.
It was only a five inning start for Max Scherzer because the Padres made him work and ran his pitch count high to 97. But considering how much the starting pitching has contributed to the Mets' fortunes, good and bad, shutout innings from a Mets starter is of premium importance now, and the Mets were surely pleased with them. I'm sure that Scherzer would tell you that he has a long way to go, but that conversation with Ralph would have been fascinating, so we welcome him to the virtual Korner.
Need to Know
This game was a pitching rematch of Game 1 of the 2022 Wild Card series between the Mets and the Padres, with Scherzer going against Yu Darvish. Scherzer gave up four home runs in that start. This start went differently, as Scherzer allowed only a single to Ha-Seong Kim and three walks in five innings.
This was the first time that the Mets have ever hung a loss on Darvish, who was 5-0 against the Mets in the regular season and 1-0 in the playoffs.
Scherzer's ERA dropped from 6.35 to 4.41 with his five shutout innings.
The talk before the game about Scherzer not being able to put hitters away with two strikes and that he felt that he needed to be more predictable. And he was. But 41 out of Scherzer's 97 pitches came with two strikes, including 9 to his last batter, Austin Nola. So clearly there's still some work to do. Only two hitters were put away with one pitch after two strikes.
The good news regarding Scherzer was that the next to last pitch he threw to Nola hit 96 on the gun. So for anyone worried about Scherzer losing velocity, that was a great sign after a five-inning grind against a very good offensive team.
Turning Point
The Mets were hitting .196 with runners in scoring position this season when Jeff McNeil came up with runners on first and second after Brandon Nimmo singled and Francisco Lindor was hit by a pitch with two outs in the third. McNeil pulled his signature trick out of his bag by swinging at the first pitch and put the Mets up 2-0 with this two-run double.
Three Keys
The Mets rallied in the 7th to give the bullpen some breathing room. Mark Canha led off with a double to bring up Luis Guillorme, who laid down the very definition of a perfect bunt:
You could go to a hundred more baseball games and never see that kind of perfection again, right? Well, after Eduardo Escobar drove in Canha with a sac fly, Tomas Nido came up, and ...
Yup, twice in three hitters. It didn't go in vain as Francisco Lindor capped off the inning with a two-run double to give the Mets a 5-0 lead and valuable breathing room. If the Mets' margin of playoff tier is one game, then give the groundskeeper a full playoff share.
The Mets also got a one-hit effort from the bullpen. John Curtiss walked a couple of batters in the 6th but struck out Matt Carpenter on three pitches to end the threat. Drew Smith walked Kim in the 7th but threw his high heat effectively to make the walk a moot point. Buck Showalter interestingly sent out David Robertson for the 8th, and he struck out two in a 1-2-3 inning. And after Adam Ottavino gave up a base hit to Xander Bogaerts to start the 9th, the righty struck out the side to end it.
The pitching as a whole gave a gritty effort, working around six walks. But in the end, it was a very encouraging two-hit shutout for the Mets (their first of the season.) Even with the six walks, that's a WHIP under 1.00 for the game, which is something that the Mets really needed against a very good lineup.
Comments