The Mets had another opportunity against the San Francisco Giants yesterday on the road to become the first National League team to reach 30 wins this season, reflecting their robust beginning to the long 162-game campaign in spite of a rash of injuries hampering the starting rotation. The Yankees became the first club in Major League Baseball with 30 victories
(30-13) after defeating the Baltimore Orioles 7-6 in the Bronx on Tuesday night.
The Mets, 29-15 before yesterday’s game, have been resilient in staying at the top of the NL. Two-time Cy Young Award winner Jacob de Grom hasn’t pitched since last July and his return from right shoulder inflammation is uncertain. Three-time Cy Young honoree Max Scherzer, whom the Mets signed to a free-agent deal last December, was placed on the injured list retroactive to May 19 resulting from an injured oblique and could be out until mid-July.
The 37-year-old Scherzer is 5-1 with eight starts and had been the veteran anchor of the Mets rotation in de Grom’s absence. Tylor Megill also had been solid in seven starts, going 4-2 in 34.2 innings pitched before being placed on the 15-day IL retroactive to May 12 suffering from right biceps tendinitis.
The Mets’ hitting, which has been inconsistent but often timely, pounded the Giants for 25 combined runs Monday and Tuesday in Games 1 and 2 of a three-game series in San Francisco. Yet they came away with a split, taking the first 13-3 and losing a slugfest the following night 13-12. Mets first baseman Pete Alonso launched three home runs and drove in eight RBI, and the team had 18 hits in total in the series opener on manager Buck Showalter’s 66th birthday.
Giants outfielder Joc Pederson improbably matched Alonso’s numbers on Tuesday, blasting three homers and producing eight RBI to carry his team to a 13-12 win. Still, it took San Francisco shortstop Brandon Crawford’s game-winning single off Mets closer Edwin Diaz in the bottom of the ninth inning to give the Giants a dramatic victory after the Mets rallied for seven runs in the top of the eighth inning to take an 11-8 lead.
Shortstop Francisco Lindor had a home run and six runs batted in for the Mets, who will play their next six games at home at Citi Field. They begin a three-game series against the Philadelphia Phillies tomorrow and will host the Washington Nationals for three games Monday through Wednesday.