Mandatory Credit: Bill Streicher-USA TODAY Sports
The Mets notched their first win of the season Tuesday night with an 8-4 over the Philadelphia Phillies.
Dominic Smith got the Mets charged up with a two-run home run in the fourth, then a four-run seventh inning gave the Mets the remainder of the runs they needed. Marcus Stroman also shined in his first start of the year.
Let’s get into the win.
On The Mound
Stroman went six innings tonight, allowing just three hits and two walks (and one hit batsman) and three strikeouts.
Stroman, who has a career 58.6 ground ball percentage, got 13 of his 18 outs tonight via the ground ball. Only three batted balls off Stroman went to the air (one was Didi Gregorius‘ solo homer). It was a quintessential Stroman start–one Mets fans hope to consistently all year, especially with guys like Lindor and Luis Guillorme playing infield defense behind him.
Like last night, Miguel Castro and Trevor May followed in the seventh and eighth innings, respectively. Tonight, however, went a bit better for the latter.
Castro nabbed two strikeouts with nasty changeups to start the seventh before a couple hits notched a run for the Phillies. Rojas showed some newfound trust in the lanky flamethrower by leaving him in to face Bryce Harper, who flied out to end the inning.
May’s eighth inning wasn’t clean (two one-out singles and a passed ball gave the Phillies second and third with one out), but he relied on his off speed pitches to get ahead in counts then got the final two outs of the inning with his fastball buzzing through the strike zone. (Brad Miller was particularly upset at his called third strike.)
Jeurys Familia finished the game, albeit leading us through an adventurous outing. Two weakly hit balls (they averaged 68.4 miles per hour on their exit velocity) landed for a single and a double, with a Pete Alonso throwing error leading to one run. After an Andrew McCutchen strikeout and Bryce Harper walk, J.T. Realmuto hit into a run-scoring fielders choice and Gregorius flew out to end the game.
The first “Put it in the books!” of the year.
Familia is going to be asked to handle situations like these–closing out leads of four or more runs. We’ll see if future ones run smoother than today.
Mandatory Credit: Bill Streicher-USA TODAY Sports
At The Plate
Where the Mets were searching for run support in their opening game, the offense gave Marcus Stroman a nice cushion by the time he left the game tonight.
Dominic Smith connected with his home run–the Mets’ first of the year–above the letters. It went to the opposite field, too. It’s going to be hard for Rojas to take his bat out of the line up, one would assume.
After Stroman’s last inning, the Mets gave him four more runs of support.
Vince Velasquez, who had struck out the side in the sixth, walked the first four batters of the seventh inning (capped by a Nimmo RBI walk) Brandon Kintzler followed and gave up a sacrifice fly to Francisco Lindor (his first as a Met), a double steal by Nimmo and Kevin Pillar of second and home (!) and an RBI single by Michael Confortoto make it 6-1.
So to recap: one hit, four runs.
Velasquez’s final line was something to marvel at. I’ll let Jayson Stark explain.
He just did something that literally never has been done.
That was the first 1 1/3-0-4-4-4-4 line in the entire modern era! https://t.co/ZwPvIYBAF6
— Jayson Stark (@jaysonst) April 7, 2021
Pete Alonso provided the icing on tonight’s cake with a two-run home run in the top of the ninth.
Some extra offensive notes from tonight:
- J.D. Davis was hit in the hand with a fastball in the second inning by a Chase Anderson fastball. He left the game, and Luis Guillorme replaced him. Davis’s X-rays were negative, though, and he seems to have avoided a broken bone.
- Brandon Nimmo had a very Brandon Nimmo night from the lead off spot: 0-for-2 with three walks, two runs, and a stolen base.
- Pete Alonso‘s home run was his 70th home run in 220 games. He’s the fastest player to reach 70 home runs. (He was also the fastest player to reach 69 home runs, wouldn’t ya know.)
- Kevin Pillar‘s steal of home was the first for the Mets since Eric Campbell stole home in 2014 (per Anthony DiComo).
In The Field
Pete Alonso made the best defensive play of the night tonight with a diving stop of a Didi Gregorius heater in the bottom of the sixth. The play stopped J.T. Realmuto from scoring, and Stroman got out of the inning with the next batter.
⚠️Polar Bear Diving Zone ⚠️ pic.twitter.com/L6DGV18slc
— Metsmerized (@Metsmerized) April 7, 2021
Francisco Lindor also learned Realmuto is fleet of foot tonight. He casually fielded an infield hit from the fastest catcher in baseball, who beat out Lindor’s throw. Lindor immediately nodded his head and acknowledged Realmuto’s speed, which Sarah Langs said was 29.0 feet per second–really fast, especially for a catcher– on that run.
On Deck
The Mets try to win the first series of the year tomorrow with a 4:05 p.m. game back at Citizens Bank Park.
David Peterson will get the start for the Mets, and Phillies ace Aaron Nola will make his second start of the year
Nola allowed two runs in 6.2 innings against the Braves in his first start. He has a 3.30 career ERA versus the Mets in 95.1 innings.
Peterson only had one start against the Phillies in his rookie year, and they beat him up pretty good for five runs in two innings. It was the worst start of his rookie year. Wednesday will be a litmus test for Peterson, who will face a pretty similar line up to the one he faced toward the end of 2020.
Given it’s a day game after a night game, expect guys like Tomás Nido and Luis Guillorme (especially with the J.D. Davis injury) to appear in tomorrow’s lineup.
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