The Mets broke open a low-scoring game with a seventh-inning rally to defeat the San Diego Padres 5-0 on Monday night at Citi Field and hang a loss on Yu Darvish for the first time.
Darvish had been 6-0 in his career against the Mets, including the wild card victory at Citi last October. Max Scherzer earned the win, allowing only one hit, though he was limited to five innings due to a high pitch count.
Here are some key takeaways...
1. The Mets took advantage of some good fortune to put the game away with a three-run rally in the seventh inning.
Two slow rollers off Darvish, one a bunt and the other a topped ground ball, hugged the third base line and both rolled dead right on the chalk while the Padres watched helplessly, hoping they’d go foul.
Luis Guillorme’s bunt put runners at first and third, setting up Eduardo Escobar for a sacrifice fly that gave the Mets a 3-0 lead. Tomas Nido followed with his slow roller, setting up Francisco Lindor’s two-run double to the left-field corner.
2. It was a grind from start to finish for Scherzer, who needed 97 pitches to throw five shutout innings. All in all, it was a good rebound start after his poor outing in Milwaukee, but the Mets likely will need him to regain his dominance and go deeper into games if they’re going to win the NL East.
Scherzer went to a full count on eight of the 18 hitters he faced and needed 11 pitches to get the final out of his night, a swinging strikeout of No. 9 hitter Austin Nola.
All in all, Scherzer racked up six strikeouts, while allowing just one hit (a fifth-inning single by Ha-Seong Kim) and three walks, and lowered his ERA to 4.41 for the season. The bullpen added four scoreless innings while allowing one hit, holding the Padres to two for the night.
Scherzer got his biggest out in the third inning. With a runner on third and two outs, he went to a full count on Manny Machado, throwing all sliders, then busted a fastball on the inside corner to get a weak pop-up.
John Curtiss, Drew Smith, David Robertson, and Adam Ottavino each pitched an inning to close out the game and account for eight strikeouts, giving New York 14 K’s for the night.
3. Jeff McNeil is a notorious first-pitch hitter, which by now is no secret around the majors. Darvish hung a first-pitch slider to him in a big RBI spot in the third inning, and McNeil jumped all over it, driving it into the right-field corner for a two-out, two-run double to give the Mets a lead.
The clutch hit scored Brandon Nimmo, who had singled up the middle, and Lindor, who was hit by a pitch. It was the fourth and fifth RBI for McNeil, who has yet to get a hot streak going. He’s hitting .256 for the season.
4. Curtiss is becoming a key figure in New York’s bullpen. He threw a scoreless sixth inning in relief of Scherzer, striking out Matt Carpenter to leave two runners on base. In five appearances the right-hander has allowed one run on three hits, for a 1.42 ERA.
As such the Mets’ gamble on Curtiss is paying off. They signed him to a two-year deal as a free agent last year, knowing he’d have to spend the 2022 season rehabbing from the second Tommy John surgery of his career, getting ready for 2023.