HOUSTON — A collection that regarded like a conflict of the titans earlier than the season began regarded extra like a race to the underside by the point it started. The Mets got here into Houston to face the defending World Series champion Astros this week having misplaced 11 of their final 14 video games, however the Astros got here in driving the same streak, dropping 9 of their final 12.
How the mighty have fallen.
Still, the Astros can’t be discounted. So if this collection is a litmus take a look at of types, then the Mets have handed the primary half. Behind a dominant efficiency by Max Scherzer, the Mets defeated the Astros, 11-1, on Monday at Minute Maid Park.
Scherzer (6-2) held the Astros to solely a single run — a solo shot by Yainer Diaz within the seventh inning — on 4 hits over eight innings. Before Diaz’s dwelling run, Scherzer hadn’t allowed a runner previous second base. He walked just one and struck out eight, decreasing his ERA by 41 factors to 4.04. It was his best begin of the 12 months and the primary time he’s gone previous seven innings since signing with the Mets. The final time he acquired by means of eight, he was nonetheless a member of the Los Angeles Dodgers (September 12, 2021).
Scherzer’s slider failed him in opposition to the Yankees final week, however it was again in an enormous manner in opposition to the Astros (39-34). He threw it 31 occasions and the Astros put 18 swings on it. They whiffed on seven of them.
The Mets (34-38) noticed him 5 runs when Hunter Brown (6-4) imploded within the third. Daniel Vogelbach and Francisco Lindor each homered within the inning, with Lindor’s going for 3 runs. It was the second dwelling run within the final 4 days for Vogelbach, however simply his fourth of the season.
For Lindor, it was his 14th. The Mets had been already up 2-0 when Lindor, who was batting from the left aspect, took a fastball inside and lifted it into the precise discipline seats.
Lindor later hit a two-run double off Shawn Dubin, a right-hander from Allegany, New York, who made his main league debut. It got here within the high of the ninth to push the sport out of attain for the Astros and allowed a beleaguered Mets bullpen to avoid wasting its essential late-game arms. The Mets ultimately ended up scoring 5 off Dubin within the ninth.
Grant Hartwig made his large league debut within the backside of the ninth and it went significantly better than Dubin’s. The right-hander threw a scoreless ninth with the assistance of a 6-3 double play.
Lindor went 2-for-5 with 5 RBI. Starling Marte went 2-for-5 with one RBI and two runs scored and Tommy Pham continued his sizzling streak going 2-for-4 with a leadoff double within the sixth. Jeff McNeil drove him in with an RBI single. His single within the eighth scored Lindor. Pham has now hit safely in 10 of his final 11 video games.
Brown was charged with a season-high six earned runs on seven hits over 5 2/3 innings.
After weeks of back-and-forth battles, extra-inning losses, sloppy errors and comebacks that fell brief, the Mets lastly performed the way in which they envisioned: A dominant pitching efficiency from one of many recreation’s greatest and a lineup that compelled a profitable pitcher to exit the sport early.
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Source: www.bostonherald.com