Schwei's Mets Notes: Syndergaard Dominates, Cespedes Piles Up Extra-Base Hits, And More
By John Schweibacher
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The New York Mets dropped four of their first five games on their current road trip, but Noah Syndergaard and Yoenis Cespedes helped the Mets to a pair of wins to salvage a split of their four-game series in San Francisco.
Syndergaard and Jeurys Familia combined on a three-hitter, and Cespedes hit his third home run since coming off the disabled list, as the Mets beat the Giants 2-0 on Sunday night.
Syndergaard allowed just two hits over eight shutout innings for the win. It was the eighth time in club history a Mets starter pitched at least that many innings of shutout ball and allowed no more than two hits against San Francisco:
· 8/21/16: Mets 2 at SF 0, Noah Syndergaard (W), 8 IP, 0 R, 2 H
· 7/8/15: Mets 4 at SF 1, Jacob deGrom (W), 8 IP, 0 R, 2 H
· 8/26/05: Mets 1 at SF 0, Steve Trachsel (W), 8 IP, 0 R, 2 H
· 8/13/00: SF 0 at Mets 2, Al Leiter (W), 8 IP, 0 R, 2 H
· 4/22/94: Mets 3 at SF 1, Bobby Jones (W), 8 IP, 0 R, 2 H
· 5/31/89: Mets 3 at SF 1 (10), Bob Ojeda (ND), 8 IP, 0 R, 2 H
· 4/25/79: SF 0 at Mets 2, Craig Swan (W), 9 IP, 0 R, 2 H
· 8/20/69: SF 0 at Mets 6, Jim McAndrew (W), 9 IP, 0 R, 2 H
Cespedes powered the Mets to a 9-5 win over the Giants on Saturday afternoon in San Francisco, delivering an RBI double and a pair of solo homers in the victory.
According to the Elias Sports Bureau, Cespedes has recorded at least three extra-base hits in four games since joining the Mets last August. The only player in the majors with more games of that kind since August 2015 is Boston's Mookie Betts, who has five.
Here are the Mets who had at least five games with at least three extra-base hits in club history:
· Jose Reyes, 9
· David Wright, 8
· Darryl Strawberry, 7
· Carlos Beltran, 6
· Kevin McReynolds, 5
· Mike Piazza, 5
· Daniel Murphy, 5
· Lucas Duda, 5
The Giants beat the Mets 8-1 on Friday night at AT&T Park. Johnny Cueto got the win for San Francisco, allowing one run and eight hits in seven innings.
The last time the Mets faced Cueto was last October, when he beat them with a two-hitter for Kansas City in Game 2 of the World Series. The only other starting pitchers the Mets faced again at any point after losing to them in a World Series game were Ken Holtzman in 1973 (five starts), Bruce Hurst in 1986 (13 starts) and Roger Clemens in 2000 (five starts).
On Thursday night, Justin Ruggiano came off the disabled list and hit a grand slam to give the Mets an early 4-0 lead, but the Giants rallied to win 10-7.
The last Mets player whose first home run for the club was a grand slam was Taylor Teagarden, who connected with the bases full in his Mets debut against the Brewers on June 10, 2014, at Citi Field.
Here is the list of Mets whose first home run for the club was a grand slam:
· 7/15/63: Carl Willey vs. Hou
· 5/20/67: Jack Hamilton vs. Stl
· 4/28/70: Dave Marshall at SF
· 6/15/03: Jose Reyes at Ana
· 8/1/09: Angel Pagan vs. Arz
· 4/27/09: Omir Santos vs. Fla
· 4/1/13: Collin Cowgill vs. SD
· 6/10/14: Taylor Teagarden vs. Mil
· 8/18/16: Justin Ruggiano at SF
The Diamondbacks won the rubber game of the three-game series against the Mets, 13-5, last Wednesday night in Arizona. Yasmany Tomas and Rickie Weeks were the hitting stars for the Diamondbacks -- both hit a pair of home runs. Tomas drove in six, and Weeks knocked in five in the victory.
It was the first time in Mets history that two opposing players each hit two homers and drove in at least five runs in the same game. The only the other pair of teammates to do this against the Mets on the same day were Hall of Famers Willie McCovey and Willie Mays, who each did so in a doubleheader for the Giants on July 4, 1962, at Candlestick Park.
The Mets won the middle game of the series with the Diamondbacks, 7-5, last Tuesday night at Chase Field. T.J. Rivera went 4-for-4 with two runs scored in his fifth career start in the win.
According to Elias, Rivera became the fourth player in Mets history to go 4-for-4 (or better) in one of his first five starts in the majors, joining Mike Vail (4-for-4 in third start in 1975), Josh Thole (4-for-4 in fifth start in 2009) and Michael Conforto (4-for-4 in second start in 2015).
The Mets lost the opener of their three-game series against the Diamondbacks, 10-6, last Monday night in Arizona. Welington Castillo went 4-for-5 in the win for the D'backs.
It was the eighth time in club history an Arizona player had at least four hits in a game against the Mets:
· 8/15/16: NYM at Arz, Welington Castillo
· 7/4/13: Arz at NYM, Wil Nieves
· 7/21/10: NYM at Arz, Rusty Ryal
· 8/11/09: NYM at Arz, Trent Oeltjen
· 8/29/99: NYM at Arz, Luis Gonzalez
· 5/30/99: Arz at NYM, Tony Womack
· 5/30/99: Arz at NYM, Steve Finley
· 5/7/99: NYM at Arz, Tony Womack
Happy Recap: Power Pitcher. Syndergaard hit his third home run of the season and fourth of his career in the Mets' win last Tuesday night in Arizona. Only Dwight Gooden (seven) and Tom Seaver (six) have hit more career home runs among Mets pitchers in club history.
Nine Miles of Rough Road: Jay Bruce. The Mets outfielder went 0-for-3 and was hit by a pitch Sunday night and is now hitting .169 (12-for-71) with two homers and six RBIs in 19 games as a Met.
