Matz stifles the Brewers, Mets’ offense finally clicks

The Mets got off to a good start in their four-game Memorial Day weekend series against the Milwaukee Brewers with their 5-0 win. For the first time in what seems like forever, there wasn’t really anything to complain about last night. The pitching was fantastic, and the offense smacked ten hits for the first time in almost a week. With today’s win, the Mets advanced to 3-1 on the season against the first-place Brewers.

The Mets looked poised to score in the first inning as a double by Brandon Nimmo and walks to Wilmer Flores and Michael Conforto loaded the bases for Devin Mesoraco. Unfortunately, he smoked a liner to the pitcher, Zach Davies, who got the out at first base. The second inning was relatively calm other than a leaping catch near the wall by Jay Bruce to take an extra-base hit away from Hernan Perez to start the bottom half

The Mets struck first in the third inning after Brandon Nimmo tripled for his second extra-base hit of the game and last week’s walk-off hero, Wilmer Flores, hit a sacrifice fly to bring him home to give the Mets a lead that they’d never surrender. Things got dicey in the bottom of the third as the first two batters reached base with the heart of the Brewer’s order coming up to the plate. After a fielder’s choice and a walk, the Brew Crew had the bases loaded with only one out. Matz managed to wiggle his way out of it, inducing a pop-up and from Hernan Perez and a fly ball from Manny Pina to end the threat.

Following another uneventful inning in the fourth, the Mets got to work quickly in the top of the fifth against Davies. Amed Rosario singled and the major league leader in on-base percentage (minimum 100 plate appearances), Brandon Nimmo, doubled for his third consecutive extra-base hit of the game. A double by Asdrubal Cabrera drove both runs home, and a single by Wilmer Flores immediately followed to send Cabrera across the plate.

Steven Matz took care of the Brewers through six innings in what is probably his best start of the 2018 campaign. While he got himself into some hot water early in the game, he found his way out of it and cruised after the rocky third inning. Matz and the Mets hope that he can keep up his performance over the past four starts as he has only allowed six runs in his past 21 innings of work, good for a 2.57 ERA.

The Mets’ bats stayed quiet until the top of the seventh when Michael Conforto singled with one out and the very next batter, Devin Mesoraco, doubled to bring him home and put the Mets up 5-0. This was the last run to cross the plate in this game as the two bullpens kept things under control through the ninth.

In the Mets’ bullpen, things went swimmingly as Paul Sewald and Jacob Rhame combined to toss three shutout innings and face the minimum to seal the Amazins’ 25th win on the season.

The Mets and Brewers are back at it again tonight at 8:10pm Eastern as Noah Syndergaard faces off against former Mets prospect Junior Guerra.

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Win Probability Added

What’s WPA?

Big winners: Steven Matz +31.5% WPA, Brandon Nimmo +27.3% WPA,
Big losers: None!
Teh aw3s0mest play: Brandon Nimmo’s fifth inning double, +10.5% WPA
Teh sux0rest play: Devin Mesoraco’s first inning liner, -7.2% WPA
Total pitcher WPA: +13.7% WPA
Total batter WPA: +36.3% WPA
GWRBI!: Wilmer Flores