Thor Terrific As Mets Rout Rockies

Noah Syndergaard pitching to Charlie Blackmon. Photo by Jason Schott.

Noah Syndergaard had one of his best outings as a Met, as they rolled to a 6-1 win over the Rockies on Sunday afternoon at Citi Field.


The Mets took two of three from the Rockies over the weekend, and four of six on this homestand, to pull within one game of .500 at 32-33.  They are entering the two-game Subway Series at Yankee Stadium starting Monday night on a high.

Syndergaard allowed just one hit over seven innings, in which he struck out seven and walked two. He did it with just 98 pitches, 68 of which were strikes.

The Rockies' only hit against Syndergaard was a Nolan Arenado single in the second, and then Syndergaard retired 11 straight before allowing a  walk to Ryan McMahon in the fifth.

Mets Manager Mickey Callaway said Syndergaard did "everything," adding, "Covering first probably the best thing he did all day (on two hits to first baseman Pete Alonso), just executed pitch after pitch. The one hit they got, it could have gone either way, I think (Hechavarria) makes that play probably 75 percent of the time, so, unbelievable job. Like I said, he fielded his position great, covered first multiple times, which is one of the reasons we had to get him out of there, he was kind just gassed at that point just from working so hard and keeping it close. Luckily, we had a great lead, the pitchers behind him did a great job, (Jeurys) Familia looked fantastic. It was a great all-around game, we scored early, we tacked on runs like we need to and kept the pressure off us."

Syndergaard improved to 4-4 on the season with this win, and Callaway said of the big righty taking this and starting to be more consistent, "I understand that his consistency probably hasn't been what he's capable of this year, but I think in the past, when he's been healthy and pitching, he's a top five pitcher in all of baseball, and the numbers have been there to show that. I know we talked about that a lot coming into spring training, but he'll get it going. This guy has some time in the big leagues, but he's still a young guy. He's still learning his craft, still learning how to deal with certain situations, like when he loses his slider, he can go to the curveball a little bit more, which he did a great job of today. He tripled up on his curveball to Story in that one at-bat, first time I've ever seen him do that, so he's still developing, picks guys off, he's controlling the running game better, he's a little bit quicker to home than in the past, so this isn't a finished product at all, and I think that at some point you're going to see Noah Syndergaard do this on a more consistent basis than otherwise."
The Mets took two of three from the Rockies over the weekend, and four of six on this homestand, to pull within one game of .500 at 32-33.  They are entering the two-game Subway Series at Yankee Stadium starting Monday night on a high.
Thor was dominant from the start and set the tone in the first inning when he struck out Charlie Blackmon, then after walking Trevor Story, picked him off of first base. He then struck out David Dahl to end the first on a high note.
In the bottom of the first, Amed Rosario singled, Michael Conforto then doubled into the right field corner, and Todd Frazier laced a three-run home run to left field.
That was the start of a big day for Frazier, who got an RBI double and scored on a triple by J.D. Davis in the fifth to make it 6-0 Mets.
In between, the Mets manufactured a run in the fourth when Adeiny Hechavarria got a two-out single, stole second, and scored on a single by Carlos Gomez.
Frazier's home run in the first gave the Mets homers in 16 straight home games, a new franchise record.
Jeurys Familia relieved Syndergaard in the eighth and retired the Rockies in order.
Colorado broke the shutout in the ninth when David Dahl got an RBI double off Hector Santiago that made it 6-1 Mets.