The Mets slugged three home runs and Noah Syndergaard pitched six solid innings in a 5-3 win over the Giants on Wednesday night at Citi Field.

For a full box score of the game, click here.

Things you should know about tonight's game...

1) Syndergaard (9-3) wasn't dominant but effective, holding the Giants to two runs on five hits and a walk in his six innings to win for the seventh time in nine decisions. The right-hander struck out six and threw 73 of his 101 pitches for strikes while allowing fewer than three runs for the first time since July 20.

2) Dominic Smith, Jose Bautista and Todd Frazier all went deep for the Mets. Jeff McNeil tripled and hit an RBI single to set a rookie club record with hits in eight consecutive at-bats. Frazier had a run-scoring ground-rule double during New York's three-run second to join McNeil as the only Mets with multi-hit games.

3) Drew Smith surrendered a run in the seventh and left a runner on for Jerry Blevins, who retired the last two batters in the seventh. Robert Gsellman struck out two in a perfect eighth before Daniel Zamora and Paul Sewald combined on a 1-2-3 ninth. It was Sewald's first career save.

Michael Avallone, SNY.tv | Twitter |

It's not often easy to look at things objectively as a Mets fan, but I do try -- good and bad. But I'm having a very difficult time gauging just what to make of Noah Syndergaard, who by all accounts is having a strong season -- injuries notwithstanding. Yet a peek under the first layer and judging by own naked eye tells me otherwise.

A breakout 2016 seemed to portend domination in Thor's future and he appeared to be doing that last season until a partially torn lat muscle basically ended his 2017 before May even started. Missing so much time certainly can have an impact, but even at the outset of this year, Syndergaard's stuff just hasn't been the same. The fastball, although plenty good enough averaging a shade under 98 mph, is down from nearly 100 last season and is his lowest since 2015. He seems to have fallen in love with his two-seamer, which is a nasty pitch in its own right, but has it cost him some in terms of the effectiveness and feel of his four-seamer? It's simple logic that the less a pitcher throws a certain pitch, the less feel he'll have for it.

Another possible reason behind Syndergaard's less-than-dominant performances is his inability or refusal to mix things up. His stuff is so good that it still produces desirable results, but it appears more and more the league has adjusted to him and he has yet to adjust back. Part of that can certainly be attributed to missing so much time the last two years, but Syndergaard's primary pattern -- fastball and sliders on the outer-half of the plate -- has not changed. Jacob deGrom has taken things to another stratosphere because he has learned to adjust the hitter's eye-level. No longer is he simply keeping the ball down at the knees. He incorporates all his pitches the same as he did before but his moves his fastball up, down, out and in. It's a lesson Syndergaard needs to learn and follow.

Health-permitting, Syndergaard is on the low-end of the Mets' worries heading into 2019. But it's undeniable that the Thor who electrified fans his first two-plus seasons has not shown up this year. The stuff is still there. He was very, very good tonight, in fact. But the look and feel just hasn't been there this season. I'm giving a lot of credence to the fact he's missed so much time since last year. I hope I'm right...

News and notes...

The Mets have won 12 of 19 overall and improved to 12-12 in their last 24 games at Citi Field. Prior to that, New York had one win in a 16-game stretch at home.

Bautista's 342nd career home run moved him into a tie for 97th all-time with Hall of Famer Ron Santo.

McNeil is hitting .519 (14-for-27) with three doubles, two triples, six runs scored and five RBIs during a seven-game hitting streak. He's batting .351 (27-for-77) with eight extra-base hits, 11 runs scored and eight RBIs in 21 games this month.

McNeil's eight straight hits fell one shy of the club-record set by Jose Vizcaino (1996) and matched by John Olerud (1998).

Syndergaard has a 3.07 ERA during a five-game winning streak at Citi Field. He has surrendered two runs in his last 21 innings spanning three starts against the Giants, including the 2016 N.L. Wild Card game when he tossed seven scoreless frames.

Smith's scoreless streak ended at eight consecutive innings while Blevins extended his to 10 1/3. Gsellman's perfect inning stretched his streak to 10 2/3 scoreless innings.

What's next...

The Mets (56-70) go for the series win against the Giants (62-66) in a battle of aces on Thursday afternoon at Citi Field at 1 p.m. on SNY.

Jacob deGrom (8-7, 1.71 ERA/2.08 FIP, 204 K's, 0.958 WHIP) closes the four-game series looking for his third consecutive win. The 30-year-old allowed an unearned run and struck out nine during his first complete game of the season against the Phillies last Saturday. His MLB-best 1.71 ERA is 40 points lower than the next-closest pitcher. DeGrom surrendered four runs over 14 innings against the Giants last season, winning once. He is 4-1 with a 3.12 ERA in six career matchups with San Francisco, including 2-0 with a 2.33 ERA at home.

Madison Bumgarner (4-5, 3.01 ERA/3.89 FIP, 73 K's, 1.296 WHIP) looks to bounce back from his worst start of the season last Saturday in Cincinnati. The 2014 World Series MVP allowed a season-high six runs -- five earned -- on eight hits in six innings of a 7-1 loss. He carried a 2.25 ERA in his previous six starts into his most recent outing. Bumgarner has dominated the Mets in his career, going 5-0 with a 1.80 ERA in six starts. He has not faced New York since 2016 when he defeated them twice.

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