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It has somehow fallen under the radar a bit, but Bartolo Colon has been a very good pitcher so far this season. There’s no doubt that the home run he hit in San Diego is the most memorable moment of his Mets career, but at the age of 43 and in his third year with the team, he’s pitching better than he did in either of the past two seasons.
Last night in Milwaukee, Colon gave up just one run in seven innings. He only struck out two, and he gave up eight hits, but he induced three double plays in his start and never really looked like he was on the ropes. He threw 91 pitches, 60 of which were strikes, and finished the night with a 3.08 ERA, which ranks 31st among 104 qualified starting pitchers.
It wasn’t just Colon who had a good night in Milwaukee, though. Curtis Granderson led off the game with a home run and went 2-for-4 on the night with a couple of runs scored. He hasn’t been his 2015 self all season, but he’s hit .244/.340/.556 with three home runs and a 133 wRC+ over the past two weeks. If he can hit like that for a month or so, especially with the current state of the Mets’ disabled list, it would be very helpful.
Yoenis Cespedes, who went 2-for-5 in the game, drove in the Mets’ second run with a hard-hit single the other way. And after Colon gave up his only run of the night in the seventh inning, Kevin Plawecki—who has been downright terrible this season—ended the bottom of that inning by throwing out would-be base stealer Hernan Perez and followed that up by driving in two runs with a single in the top of the eighth. It was undoubtedly the best one-inning span of Plawecki’s season.
Addison Reed proved himself human in this one by giving up a run in the bottom of the eighth, but the Mets had more insurance in store. Juan Lagares, who had entered the game in center field in the bottom of the eighth, hit a hustle double to center field. He came around to score when Matt Reynolds, who pinch hit for Neil Walker after Walker took a very hard ground ball off the chest, singled him in. It sounds like Walker will be alright, and it was encouraging to see Lagares playing baseball again and looking good doing so.
Jeurys Familia’s ninth inning was so good that it made the memories of his recent struggles seem like they’re in the distant past. And to top off all of those positive things, the Nationals lost to the White Sox last night, which leaves the Mets just 2.5 games out of first in the division this morning.
SB Nation GameThreads
* Amazin' Avenue GameThread
* Brew Crew Ball GameThread
Box scores
Win Probability Added
Big winners: Bartolo Colon, +32.8% WPA, Wilmer Flores +10.5% WPA, Asdrubal Cabrera, +10.5% WPA, Curtis Granderson, +10.3% WPA
Big losers: Michael Conforto, -12.% WPA
Teh aw3s0mest play: Curtis Granderson begins the game with a home run, +9.8% WPA
Teh sux0rest play: Hernan Perez singles in a run in the seventh, -12.0% WPA
Total pitcher WPA: +38.1% WPA
Total batter WPA: +11.9% WPA
GWRBI!: Kevin Plawecki