Todd Frazier does what Coloradon’t as Noah Syndergaard dominates

On the heels of three consecutive lackluster starts, the Mets needed Noah Syndergaard to deliver on Sunday afternoon and he did not disappoint. In seven innings of work, Syndergaard only allowed one hit, Nolan Arenado’s single to lead off the second inning, and two walks as he struck out seven Rockies along the way.

After the first of Syndergaard’s seven nice innings, the Mets came up to the plate and gave the pitching staff all of the runs they’d need in their 6-1 victory over the Rockies. Amed Rosario singled to start things off and Michael Conforto quickly followed him up with a double to put two men in scoring position with no outs on the ledger against Jeff Hoffman. Unfortunately, big slugging boy Pete Alonso struck out on a ball in the dirt, but the invigorated Todd Frazier came to the plate and didn’t disappoint. On his first swing of the afternoon, Frazier laced a ball over the Great Wall of Flushing and Frisbee’d his bat as he made his way to first base, giving the Mets a 3-0 lead. The next two batters were rapidly dispatched, but the damage had already been done.

For the next two innings, both pitchers cruised until the Mets broke through again in the last of the fourth inning. It wasn’t until two outs were made in the inning when Adeiny Hechavarria smacked a single to bring Carlos Gomez up to the plate with a chance to keep the line moving. After a few pickoff attempts, Hechavarria swiped second and Gomez did his job by bringing him home on a single to center, giving the Mets a 4-0 advantage. Tomas Nido was intentionally walked, but Noah Syndergaard was retired to end the threat with only one run coming home.

Now, stop me if you heard this one before. After another scoreless inning from Noah Syndergaard, the Mets swung their way into a few more runs against the Rockies. Amed Rosario walked to start the inning and he too swiped second base to put a man in scoring position. Michael Conforto lined out to right, but thanks to his steal, Rosario was able to scoot over to third with Todd Frazier coming up. On the first pitch he saw, Frazier laced a double into left field to bring home Rosario and put himself on second base as J.D. Davis came to the plate. Thanks to a lucky miss and deflection from David Dahl on a diving attempt, Davis was able to bring an run around and race to third for the first triple of his career.

Following that offensive outburst from the Mets, both teams remained quiet until until the ninth as Syndergaard easily made his way through the seventh inning followed by Familia for a perfect eighth inning. Things got a little bit testy as Hector Santiago was tacked with the ninth inning as the Mets were six runs up. To start, things weren’t too bad as Brendan Rodgers popped up, but Charlie Backmon drew a walk in a seven-pitch battle and after Trevor Story closed the book on his day with a fly ball, David Dahl made up for his failed dive with a double to left, bringing home Blackmon and ending the Mets shutout 26 outs deep. One mound visit later, Santiago struck out Nolan Arenado to send the fans home happy, bring the Mets within a game of .500, and secure the 6-1 victory.

The Mets are back in action 7:05 tomorrow night at Yankee Stadium as staff ace Jason Vargas faces off against Masahiro Tanaka in the first of four Subway Series games in 2019.

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What’s WPA?

Big winners: Noah Syndergaard +20.4% WPA, Todd Frazier +19.7% WPA, Michael Conforto +10.3% WPA
Big losers: None!
Total pitcher WPA: +21% WPA
Total batter WPA: +29% WPA
Teh aw3s0mest play: Todd Frazier’s first inning home run, +18% WPA
Teh sux0rest play: Pete Alonso’s first inning strikeout with two men in scoring position, -5.4% WPA