Schwei's Mets Notes: Matz Takes No-Hitter Deep Into Game, Familia Allows A Rare Homer, And More
By John Schweibacher
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After falling below the .500 mark for the first time since April, the New York Mets put together consecutive wins for the first time since early July, beating San Diego on Saturday and Sunday.
Steven Matz pitched no-hit ball for 7 1/3 innings before giving up a single to Alexei Ramirez as the Mets beat the Padres 5-1 in the rubber game of the three-game series Sunday afternoon. The back-to-back wins were the Mets' first since July 6-7, a span of 31 games.
Matz's gem was the longest no-hit bid by a Mets pitcher since Johan Santana's no-hitter against St. Louis on June 1, 2012, and the longest no-hit bid against the Padres since Tom Seaver went 8 1/3 innings before giving up a single to Leron Lee in a 2-0 win on July 4, 1972, at Shea Stadium.
On Saturday night, Jeurys Familia blew his third save chance in his last six opportunities, but the Mets pushed across a run in the bottom of the 11th inning to beat the Padres 3-2 at Citi Field to end their four-game losing streak.
Wil Myers hit a game-tying solo home run off Familia in the top of the ninth, ending Familia's streak of having not allowed a home run in his last 58 regular-season innings, dating back to September 2015, when the Braves' Freddie Freeman homered off the Mets' closer.
According to Baseball-Reference.com, Familia is currently one of seven pitchers in Mets history who allowed one or zero homers while having pitched at least 55 innings in a single season.
· Doug Sisk, 1986, 0 HR, 70 2/3 IP
· Doug Sisk, 1983, 1 HR, 104 1/3 IP
· Roger McDowell, 1988, 1 HR, 89 IP
· Carlos Diaz, 1983, 1 HR, 83 1/3 IP
· Doug Sisk, 1984, 1 HR, 77 2/3 IP
· Ron Taylor, 1967, 1 HR, 73 IP
· Pedro Feliciano, 2010, 1 HR, 62 2/3 IP
· Chad Bradford, 2006, 1 HR, 62 2/3 IP
· Jeurys Familia, 2016, 1 HR, 55 2/3 IP
The only three Mets pitchers to throw at least 35 innings in a season without allowing a home run are Doug Sisk (1986), Ron Darling (1983) and Juan Padilla (2005).
On Friday night, the Mets dropped their fourth straight game, 8-6, to the Padres. San Diego rookie Ryan Schimpf homered twice, including a first-inning gramd slam, while fellow rookie Jabari Blash and Christian Bethancourt also homered as well in the win.
It was the fifth time the Mets allowed at least four home runs in a game against the Padres in club history.
· 8/12/16: Padres 8 at Mets 6 (Schimpf 2, Blash and Bethancourt).
· 5/17/01: Padres 15 at Mets 3 (Rickey Henderson, Bubba Trammell, Ryan Klesko and Alex Arias).
· 5/1/97: Padres 7 at Mets 3 (John Flaherty 2, Ken Caminiti and Greg Vaughn)
· 8/18/96*: Mets 0 at Padres 8 (Ken Caminiti 2, Brian Johnson and Joey Hamilton)
· 8/16/96*: Mets 10 at Padres 15 (Ken Caminiti, Greg Vaughn, Steve Finley and John Flaherty).
(*--game played in Monterrey, Mexico)
On Thursday, the Diamondbacks completed their first ever Citi Field road sweep of the Mets with a 9-0 win. Arizona stole 13 bases in the three games -- five in the series opener and four in each of the final two games.
According to the Elias Sports Bureau, the Mets were the first team to allow at least four steals in each of three straight games since the Expos on Sept. 15-17, 1995, in a series against the Astros in Montreal.
The 13 steals set a Mets franchise record for the most allowed in a three-game series, previously set on April 17-19, 1990, when the Cubs stole 12. The Cubs' stolen bases in that series were by Mark Grace (4), Jerome Walton (4), Joe Girardi (2) Dwight Smith and Ryne Sandberg.
Oscar Hernandez's first major league home run broke a 2-2 tie in the 12th inning in the Diamondbacks' 3-2 win over the Mets last Wednesday night at Citi Field.
It was the 10th extra-inning game all-time between the Mets and Arizona since the Diamondbacks' debut season in 1998, nine of which have been played at either Citi Field or Shea Stadium:
· 8/10/16: Arizona 3 at Mets 2 (12)
· 7/4/13: Arizona 5 at Mets 4 (15)
· 7/1/13: Arizona 4 at Mets 5 (13)
· 7/21/10: Mets 3 at Arizona 4 (13)
· 6/12/08: Arizona 5 at Mets 4 (10)
· 6/11/08: Arizona 3 at Mets 5 (13)
· 5/31/06: Arizona 0 at Mets 1 (13)
· 8/3/05: Arizona 8 at Mets 5 (10)
· 8/26/00: Arizona 5 at Mets 1 (10)
· 5/4/98: Arizona 4 at Mets 2 (11)
On Thursday night, the Mets lost the opener of the three-game series against Arizona, 5-3. Michael Bourn tripled with two outs in the seventh inning to drive in a pair of runs, giving the Diamondbacks the lead for good.
It was the 10th time this season the Mets lost a game that they had led at the start of the seventh inning (42-10). Last season, the Mets went 68-8 overall in the regular season in games in which they took a lead into the final three innings.
Happy Recap: What a Relief. Mets relievers retired all 19 batters they faced in the series-opening loss to San Diego, the longest perfect bullpen performance in team history, according to Elias.
Nine Miles of Rough Road: Logan Verrett. The Mets' fifth starter was bumped from the rotation and demoted to Las Vegas after going 1-6 with a 6.45 ERA in 12 starts.
