Blister? What blister?
After his start was pushed back, Steven Matz showed no ill effects, quieting the Arizona offense over 6 2/3 innings. Matz has now registered 4 quality starts in his last 5 appearances.
The Mets’ impressive run of starting pitching continues, but on this night the New York offense came to life. Wouldn’t be accurate to say the offense exploded, but it was definitely better than the 1 run on 5 hits we’ve become accustomed to lately.
The lineup had Michael Conforto slotted in the 7 hole, which I’m not a fan of. But it turned out that he was in exactly the right spot.
Wilmer Flores and Brandon Nimmo led off the top of the 2nd with back to back singles before Devin Mesoraco struck out swinging. That brought Conforto to the plate. He took the first pitch he saw over the right field wall for his 9th homerun of the year. 3-0 Mets.
So as per Statcast, the ball left Conforto’s bat at 112.4 miles per hour. That is the second hardest ball Conforto has hit in his career. Furthermore, during the first game of the series, Conforto’s homerun traveled 445 feet, which is the farthest he’s ever hit a ball. I think good things are ahead for our young slugger. He has now reached base safely in 8 of his last 15 plate appearances.
In the top of the third, Amed Rosario led off with a double. Asdrubal Cabrera flew out which allowed Rosario to advance to third. After a Todd Frazier walk, Rosario came home on a wild pitch, extending the Mets’ lead to 4-0.
If you’ve watched any Met games these last two months, those 4 runs felt like 25. Amazingly, the Mets were not done scoring.
In the top of the 6th, Brandon Nimmo singled and stole second. Devin Mesoraco followed with a single but Brandon Nimmo was thrown out trying to score on the play. That brought Michael Conforto to the plate. Conforto made a bid for his second homerun of the night, but settled for an RBI double. Mesoraco scored, extending the lead to 5-0.
The Diamondbacks finally got on the board in the bottom of the inning. Nick Ahmed led off with a triple, and scampered home on a Paul Goldschmidt groundout.
That was the only tally Matz would allow. He surrendered just one hit on 6 hits and 1 walk. He also struck out 3. Don’t look now but Matz’ ERA is sitting at 3.31 on the season. Wow!
For a couple of hours, it was nice to be a Mets fan again.
Zack Wheeler pitches the finale, attempting to salvage a series split. Clay Bucholz gets the start for Arizona.
