Schwei's Mets Notes: D'Arnaud Makes Some Noise With His Bat
By John Schweibacher
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After losing two of three to the National League East champion Washington Nationals, the New York Mets continued their final homestand of 2017 with a doubleheader split vs. the Atlanta Braves Monday.
Travis d'Arnaud homered and drove in two runs in the Mets' 3-2 win in the night cap after Tomas Nido, making his first major league start in the opener, knocked in both Mets runs in a 9-2 loss.
Mets catchers now have a combined 26 home runs and 86 runs batted in. Only five other teams in the majors have gotten both more homers and RBIs from their catchers this season:
• Astros -- 30 HR, 97 RBIs
• Cubs -- 29 HR, 101 RBIs
• Yankees-- 29 HR, 98 RBIs
• Braves -- 29 HR, 95 RBIs
• Royals -- 28 HR, 93 RBIs
On Sunday afternoon, despite striking out 11 batters in six innings, Jacob deGrom and the Mets lost to Max Scherzer and the Nationals, 3-2, in the rubber game of their three-game series.
It was the seventh time in club history the Mets lost a game to the Nationals/Expos franchise in which the starting pitcher struck out at least 11 batters. The other times were:
Oct. 3, 2015: Was 2 at NYM 0 -- Matt Harvey, 11 strikeouts
April 11, 1992: Mtl 9 at NYM 2 -- David Cone, 11
June 4, 1990: Mtl 5 at NYM 3 -- David Cone, 12
June 22, 1984: Mtl 2 at NYM 1 -- Dwight Gooden, 11
Aug. 4, 1975: Mtl 4 at NYM 3 -- Randy Tate, 13
May 11, 1970: Mtl 3 at NYM 0 -- Tom Seaver, 12
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On Saturday night, the Nationals beat the Mets, 4-3, in 10 innings.
Matt Harvey made his first career relief appearance after 99 starts, taking the mound in the top of the second inning after Noah Syndergaard started the game in his first outing since April 30.
Five pitchers in club history have made more than 100 career starts for the Mets without ever appearing in a game as a reliever:
• Al Leiter, 213
• Tom Glavine, 164
• Steve Trachsel, 160
• Johan Santana, 109
• Jacob deGrom, 106
Daniel Murphy continued to torment his former team, blasting a go-ahead solo homer in the 10th inning to give Washington the lead. Murphy has batted .386 with nine home runs and 35 RBIs in 38 games vs. the Mets since joining the Nationals.
On Friday night, the Mets rallied to beat the Nationals, 7-6, at Citi Field in the opener of their three-game series.
Travis d'Arnaud hit a pair of home runs in the win, a solo shot in the second inning and a three-run homer in the fifth.
It was the second career multi-homer game, both coming this season, for d'Arnaud, who also homered twice on April 28 against the Nationals.
According to the Elias Sports Bureau, the only other Mets catchers with two multi-homer games against the same team in the same season were Gary Carter in 1985 vs. the Padres and Todd Hundley in 1997 against the Reds.
On Wednesday afternoon, Miami completed a three-game sweep of the Mets, 9-2, at Marlins Park.
Marcell Ozuna went 3-for-4 in the win, giving him 30 hits against the Mets this season.
Ozuna is the 10th Mets opponent to have at least 30 hits against them in a single season:
• Dee Gordon (Mia), 35, 2015
• Curt Flood (Stl), 32, 1963
• Andre Dawson (Mtl), 31, 1979
• Juan Pierre (Fla), 31, 2004
• Roberto Clement (Pit), 31, 1965
• Vada Pinson (Cin), 31, 1965
• Maury Willis (LAD), 31, 1962
• Daniel Murphy (Was), 31, 2016
• Freddie Freeman (Atl), 30, 2016
• Marcel Ozuna (Mia), 30, 2017
Last Tuesday night, the Mets dropped the middle game of the three-game series in Miami, blowing a 4-1, ninth-inning lead and losing, 5-4, in 10 innings.
Jose Reyes went 4-for-5 with a home run in the loss and now has 26 games with four or more hits as a Met, the most in franchise history. The list of Mets with at least 10 four-hit games:
• Jose Reyes (2003-11, 2016-present), 26
• David Wright (2004-present), 20
• Daniel Murphy (2008-15), 13
• Mookie Wilson (1980-89), 12
• Kevin McReynolds (1987-91, 1994), 12
• Edgardo Alfonzo (1995-2002), 12
• Mike Piazza (1998-2005), 11
• Tommie Agee (1968-72), 10
• Keith Hernandez (1983-89), 10
Happy Recap: Homer Happy. D'Arnaud's home run in the win over the Braves on Monday night was the Mets' 219th of the season, setting a club record.
Nine Miles of Rough Road: 90. The Mets' loss in the opener of Monday's doubleheader was their 90th of the season. It's the 20th time in club history the Mets have lost at least 90 games.
