Schwei's Mets Notebook: Solid Road Trip, DeGrom Wins And More
By John Schweibacher
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The New York Mets won four of their last five games to come away with a 4-3 road trip.
The Mets tied a season high with 17 hits in their 11-5 win at Miami Sunday, matching the 17 they had in an 11-10 loss at Colorado back on May 3. The last time the Mets had more than 17 hits in a game was back on April 29, 2012 at Colorado, when they had 18 in a 6-5 win.
It took eight tries, but Jacob deGrom finally posted his first major-league win with a victory over the Marlins Saturday in Miami.
The Mets' rookie went seven innings and did not allow a run in the 4-0 win. According to the Elias Sports Bureau, since 1999, the only other players to record their first big-league win while pitching for the Mets in a game in which they went at least seven innings and did not give up a run were Jae Seo and Jon Niese.
On April 17, 2003, Seo pitched seven shutout innings, allowing five hits in a 7-2 win over the Pirates in Pittsburgh to pick up his first major-league victory.
On September 13, 2008, Niese threw eight scoreless innings, allowing six hits in a 5-0 win over the Braves at Shea Stadium in the nightcap of a doubleheader for his first win in the majors.
Here is the list of pitchers who picked up a win by pitching at least seven shutout innings within their first eight major-league starts as Mets:
· Jacob deGrom (8th start): 6/21/2014 at Mia
· Jon Niese (2nd start): 9/13/2008 vs. Atl
· Alay Soler (4th start): 6/10/2006 at Arz
· Jae Seo (3rd start): 4/17/2003 at Pit
· Masato Yoshii (1st start): 4/5/1998 vs. Pit
· Jason Isringhausen (5th start): 8/9/1995 at Phi
· Bill Pulsipher (3rd start): 6/27/1995 at Fla
· Jason Jacome (2nd start): 7/7/1994 at LA
· Eric Hillman (1st start): 8/11/1992 vs. Pit
· Dwight Gooden (7th start): 5/11/1984 at LA
· Mark Bomback (2nd start): 4/30/1980 vs. Phi
· Jim McAndrew (6th start): 8/26/1968 at Stl
· Nolan Ryan (2nd start): 5/2/1968 vs. Phi
· Les Rohr (3rd start): 9/30/1967 at LA
· Dick Rusteck (1st start): 6/10/1966 vs. Cin
· Dick Selma (2nd start): 9/12/1965 vs. Atl
· Dennis Ribant (2nd start): 8/17/1964 vs. Pit
The Mets lost to the Marlins, 3-2, Friday night as Miami left fielder Marcell Ozuna threw out a pair of runners at the plate -- David Wright in the eighth inning and Kirk Nieuwenhuis to end the game in the ninth.
According to the Elias Sports Bureau, the last time the Mets lost a game with the potential tying run being thrown out at the plate on what would have been a sacrifice fly was back on September 13, 1979 against the Phillies at Shea Stadium.
That night, the Mets trailed the Phils and Steve Carlton, 2-0, going to the bottom of the ninth at Shea Stadium. With one out and runners on first and third, Dan Norman's infield single scored Lee Mazzilli to cut the Philadelphia lead to 2-1. Alex Trevino then singled to center to load the bases and Tug McGraw was brought in to relieve Carlton. Doug Flynn flied out to center fielder Greg Gross, who proceeded to throw out Joel Youngblood at the plate to end the game.
The Mets beat the Marlins, 1-0, last Thursday night in Miami thanks to a first-inning home run by David Wright and Zack Wheeler's first major-league shutout, a three-hitter in which he faced only 28 Marlins batters.
According to the Elias Sports Bureau, Wheeler, who turned 24 years old on May 30, is the youngest Mets pitcher to hurl a 1-0 shutout since Dwight Gooden threw two of them in 1985 at age 20. In fact, since 1997, the only Met as young as Wheeler to throw a shutout by any score was Niese at age 23 on June 10, 2010 against the Padres.
Wright became the 11th player in Mets history to homer in a 1-0 road win:
· 6/19/2014: at Mia, David Wright vs. Andrew Heaney (1st)
· 8/7/2010: at Phi, Jeff Francoeur vs. Cole Hamels (7th)
· 4/29/2007: at Was, Carlos Beltran vs. Jason Bergmann (6th)
· 4/29/2006: at Atl, Paul Lo Duca vs. John Thomson (6th)
· 8/26/2005: at SF, David Wright vs. Kevin Correia (2nd)
· 5/12/2004: at Arz, Kaz Matsui vs. Randy Johnson (1st)
· 4/27/1990: at Hou, Mark Carreon vs. Mark Portugal (4th)
· 10/1/1985: at Stl, Darryl Strawberry vs. Ken Dayley (11th)
· 9/7/1973: at Mtl, Wayne Garrett vs. Steve Renko (1st)
· 6/21/1965: at LA, Billy Cowan vs. Claude Osteen (9th)
· 6/14/1965: at Cin, Johnny Lewis vs. Jim Maloney (11th)
Wheeler's shutout was just the Mets' sixth since Johan Santana's no-hitter back on June 1, 2012:
· 6/19/2014 at Mia: Zack Wheeler, 9ip 3h
· 8/27/2013 vs. Phi: Jon Niese, 9ip 3h
· 8/7/2013 vs. Col: Matt Harvey, 9ip 4h
· 8/31/2012 at Mia: R.A. Dickey, 9ip 5h
· 6/18/2012 vs. Bal: R.A. Dickey, 9ip 1h
· 6/2/2012 vs. Stl: R.A. Dickey, 9ip 7h
· 6/1/2012 vs. Stl: Johan Santana, 9ip 0h
Last week, deGrom and Niese became the first Mets starting pitchers in club history to hit in any spot in the batting order other than ninth when both of them hit eighth in back-to-back games against the Cardinals in St. Louis and again this past weekend in Miami.
Neither deGrom nor Niese got a hit in the four games, but according to the play index and game finder at baseball-reference.com, 27 Mets relievers have gotten a hit while hitting somewhere other than ninth in the batting order (not including any as a pinch hitter).
Some notes involving those relievers and their hits include:
· The last Mets pitcher to get a hit in a spot other than ninth in the lineup was Raul Valdes at St. Louis (4/17/10). He singled in the 18th inning while batting seventh in Mets' 2-1, 20-inning win vs. the Cardinals.
· The first Mets pitcher to get a hit in a spot other than ninth in the lineup was Ray Daviault vs. Cincinnati (8/3/62). He singled in the sixth inning while batting seventh in an 8-6 Mets loss at the Polo Grounds.
· The only Mets pitcher to hit a home run in a spot other than ninth in the lineup is Skip Lockwood (7/17/78). He hit a solo homer in the ninth inning while batting second in a 7-4 Mets win.
· The only Mets pitcher to hit a triple in a spot other than ninth in the lineup was Darrell Sutherland at Houston (8/14/65). He tripled in the ninth while batting seventh in a 1-0, 10-inning win.
Schwei's Runs, Hits and Errors:
Runs: David Wright -- Hit in all seven games on the road trip, going 12-for-17 with two home runs and six RBIs.
Hits: Kirk Nieuwenhuis -- Doubled in his first two at-bats in Sunday's win to become the first player in Mets history to hit four consecutive doubles.
Errors: Double Plays -- Mets did turn 10 double plays on the road trip, but still lead the majors with 14 misplays on double-play attempts this season.
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