Sensational Severino Shuts Out Marlins, Shows Why He's Ace Of Mets Staff

 

Luis Severino pitching to Jonah Bride in the second inning. Photo by Jason Schott.

Luis Severino threw a complete-game shutout to lead the Mets to a 4-0 win over the Marlins on Saturday evening at Citi Field.

In perhaps his best game of the season, Severino scattered four hits and just one walk, while striking out eight, and he did it with 113 pitches, 78 of which were strikes.

The right-hander is now 8-6 on the season, and more significantly, he lowered his ERA below 4, to 3.91.

The Mets gave Severino plenty of run support early, as Francisco Lindor led off the game with a home run, his 24th homer and 71st RBI of the season.

Francisco Lindor was greeted by Mark Vientos after crossing the plate on his first-inning home run. Photo by Jason Schott. 

Pete Alonso followed with a solo shot of his own (#27) to open the second inning to quickly make it 2-0 Mets against Marlins starter Max Meyer.

To keep the picket fence on the line score going, Jesse Winker got an RBI single in the third inning, followed by a Mark Vientos RBI double down the left field line that brought in Lindor, who drew a two-out walk, in the fourth inning.

Luis Severino pitching to Xavier Edwards to open the sixth inning, after significant work was done on the field due to the rain in the middle innings. Photo by Jason Schott.

A game like this establishes why Severino should be thought of as the ace of their starting rotation as they've reached the home stretch of the season in the thick of the pennant race. This is why the Mets brought him across town from The Bronx, where he pitched amidst plenty of pennant races and has by far the most postseason experience of anyone on their pitching staff.

The Mets moved back to five games over .500, at 64-59, and they are now 3-2 on this nine-game homestand, in which - after the series finale with Miami at high noon on Sunday (thanks Roku) - they will host one of the best teams in the American League, the Baltimore Orioles, in a three-game set starting Monday.

As it stands now, the Mets are just a half-game behind the Atlanta Braves (64-58), who play at Anaheim later tonight, for the final Wild Card spot.

At the moment, it appears that this is all that will be available to those rivals, as San Diego (69-54) and Arizona (69-55) have pulled away for the top two Wild Cards and are also in contention for the National League West, just a few games behind the Los Angeles Dodgers (72-51). Who could have seen that coming?

The one thing in favor of the Mets and Braves is that they have some separation from the five teams behind them, the San Francisco Giants (62-62), Chicago Cubs (61-63), Cincinnati Reds and St. Louis Cardinals (60-62), and Pittsburgh Pirates (58-64).