Schwei's Mets Notebook: Little-Known Facts, Odd Stats And Strange Records
By John Schweibacher
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The New York Mets won back-to-back road series on the same trip for the first time this season, taking two of three from both the Marlins and Reds.
The Mets completed the winning road trip with a 4-3 victory in Cincinnati Sunday, with all four of their runs scored being unearned. According to the Elias Sports Bureau, it's the first game that the Mets won in which they allowed at least three runs without scoring an earned run since July 18, 1997, when they also beat the Reds in that fashion, 4-3, at Shea Stadium. Billy Hamilton and Jack Hannahan committed the errors that led to the Reds' loss on Sunday. Cincinnati's errors in the loss in 1997 were by Deion Sanders and Pokey Reese.
The Mets got home runs from a rookie catcher (Travis d'Arnaud), a rookie shortstop (Wilmer Flores) and a rookie second baseman (Dilson Herrera) in their 14-5 win vs. the Reds on Friday night. According to the Elias Sports Bureau, the Mets were the first team in major-league history to have a home run from rookies from those three positions in the same game. It was also the first time in Mets history that three different rookies homered in the same game.
It was the 20th time in club history that the Mets hit five-or-more homers in a game, and the third time against the Cincinnati Reds:
• 9/5/14 at Cin: 5 (d'Arnaud, Flores, Granderson, Herrera, Duda)
• 6/15/99 at Cin: 6 (Henderson 2, Alfonzo, Franco, Olerud, Piazza)
• 8/3/62 vs. Cin: 5 (Thomas 2, Coleman, Throneberry, Neal)
David Wright went 4-for-5 in the Mets' 14-5 win over the Reds Friday night in Cincinnati. Wright's four-hit game was the 20th of his career, the second-most among Mets players in club history. Here is the list of players who have had 10-or-more games of four hits or more for the Mets:
• Jose Reyes: 23
• David Wright: 20
• Mookie Wilson: 12
• Kevin McReynolds: 12
• Edgardo Alfonzo: 12
• Mike Piazza: 11
• Daniel Murphy: 11
• Tommie Agee: 10
• Keith Hernandez: 10
Wright's four-hit performance came one game after a four-strikeout night against the Marlins. It was just the sixth time that Wright fanned four times in one game:
• 5/27/09 vs. Was (Zimmermann 2, Colome, Hanrahan)
• 9/25/09 at Mia (Nolasco 2, Donnelly, Nunez)
• 5/9/10 vs. SF (Lincecum 3, Wilson)
• 8/11/10 vs. Col (Francis 3, Street)
• 7/14/12 at Atl (Hanson 2, Durbin, Varvaro)
• 9/3/14 at Mia (Koehler 3, Dunn)
Only six Mets hitters (including two pitchers) have had at least five career four-strikeout-or-more games in club history:
• Dave Kingman: 8
• David Wright: 6
• Ron Swoboda: 6
• Jerry Koosman: 6
• Tommie Agee: 5
• Gary Gentry: 5
Wright also had a big night at the plate on Wednesday night at Marlins Park, going 3-for-4 with three RBIs, including hits in each of his two at-bats against Marlins starter Brad Penny. According to the Elias Sports Bureau, Wright now owns a .636 batting average against Penny (14 hits in 22 at-bats), the highest batting average for any active player with at least 20 at-bats against an active pitcher.
The Mets led that game by two runs before starter Jonathon Niese took the mound in the first inning, but New York never relinquished that lead despite Niese allowing six earned runs in six innings.
Elias notes that over the last six seasons (2009-2014), the only other Mets pitcher to earn a win in a game in which he allowed at least six earned runs was Chris Capuano in a 10-9 victory at Cincinnati back on July 28, 2011. Niese is now 14-0 over the past four seasons in games in which the Mets score multiple times in the opening inning of his starts.
Schwei's Runs. Hits and Errors:
Runs: Zack On Track -- After starting the season 3-8, Zach Wheeler is now 7-1 with a 2.21 ERA over his last 13 starts.
Hits: Recking Ball -- Backup catcher Anthony Recker has made just 11 starts since the start of July, but now has four homers and 13 RBIs in those games.
Errors: Minor Losses -- Mets farm clubs Las Vegas (Triple-A) and Savannah (Class A) were eliminated from the postseason this past weekend.
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