The Mets jumped on Domingo German for three early runs in the first inning. Brandon Nimmo started the rally with a walk and then Asdrubal Cabrera, Michael Conforto, and Jose Bautista all doubled to put the Mets up 3-0. In his second at-bat back from the disabled list, Yoenis Cespedes added to that lead with a solo homer that dinged off the left field foul pole.
Noah Syndergaard managed to weave around traffic during his entire outing. He scattered eight hits over his five innings of work, but gave up just one run on an infield single to Brett Gardner, followed by a single by Aaron Judge and a sacrifice fly from Giancarlo Stanton. In the bottom of the fourth, Syndergaard reached a career milestone by striking out his 500th batter; he is the quickest to 500 strikeouts of any pitcher in Mets history.
What was more troubling than the hits he surrendered, many of which were hard luck singles, was Syndergaard’s drop in velocity. By the end of his outing, he was sitting at 94-95mph with his fastball. Despite a visit from the trainer in the fifth inning, he finished out the inning and left the game after only 84 pitches.
Meanwhile the Mets tacked on two runs in the fifth off Adam Warren. Cespedes and Wilmer Flores both walked and Michael Conforto drove in Cespedes, the second of his three RBIs on the night. Jose Bautista then worked out another walk and Devin Mesoraco smacked a single to make the score 6-1.
The Mets bullpen bent, but it did not break, as Seth Lugo and Robert Gsellman each went two innings in relief. Lugo gave up an RBI double to Neil Walker in the sixth inning to make it 6-3. Lugo then executed an epic escape act to make it out of the seventh without surrendering any additional runs. He threw 56 pitches to make it through his two innings. Gsellman gave up two runs in the eighth inning to bring the Yankees within one. The Mets scratched out a welcome insurance run in the top of the ninth off former National A.J. Cole. Gsellman bounced back in his second inning of work, shutting the door in the ninth to earn his second six-out save in the past week.
Full recap to follow.
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