Francisco Lindor had his first career five-hit game, and Carlos Carrasco had the best outing of the season as the Mets beat the Diamondbacks 9-0 to complete the three-game sweep.
Here are the takeaways…
– Carrasco was on the mound after going five innings and giving up two runs against the Giants back on June 30. He was much better on Thursday night. After walking the first batter he faced, the veteran righty would mow down the Diamondback hitters, inducing ground ball after ground ball.
He gave up a bloop double to Alek Thomas that went over Francisco Lindor‘s head in shallow left field in the third inning. After that, Carrasco would sit down 10 straight hitters before giving up his second hit of the game.
Carrasco would give up a third hit in the eighth inning but would pitch around it to complete his impressive night. The veteran went eight innings (96 pitches/63 strikes) while giving up just three hits, one walk and striking out four.
Kodai Senga on Wednesday and Carrasco on Thursday are the first pair of Mets starters to go eight innings in back-to-back team games since Noah Syndergaard and Bartolo Colon did it in August 2015.
– Ryne Nelson was on the mound for Arizona and he came into Thursday’s game after two straight fantastic starts where he gave up just one run in each and went at least seven innings. However, the Mets got to him early. The Mets put up seven runs on the young righty in three innings and chased him. Nelson’s ERA was raised from 4.67 to 5.19 after Thursday’s outing.
– Lindor almost missed Wednesday’s game due to food poisoning. He needed fluids administered to him through an IV in the pregame and he still played. Lindor seemed much better on Thursday, picking up a two-out triple in the first inning. It was his first triple of the season. Pete Alonso, who entered the series finale 0-for-9, lined a 2-1 fastball on the inside part of the plate over the left-field wall to put the Mets up 2-0. Alonso got around that pitch to break his hitless streak.
Lindor would hit another triple in the third inning, and Alonso would drive him home on a single to put the Mets up 3-0. It’s the first time in Lindor’s career he had two triples in a game. Daniel Vogelbach lined a double into the right-field corner to score Alonso. Jeff McNeil would get in on the offense with a ground-rule double to score Vogelbach.
Lindor would add a single and a home run to put the Mets up 9-0. In his final at-bat, Lindor narrowly missed a double down the line, but the ball went foul. The shortstop would have to settle for a single and finish 5-for-5. It’s the first five-hit game of Lindor’s career.
– Francisco Alvarez looks to have found his home run swing. The rookie catcher capped off a five-run third inning by launching a curveball over the left-center field wall — a two-run shot — to put the Mets up 7-0. It’s his fourth home run in five games.
In the fifth, he would hit a one-out single to score another run and put the Mets up 8-0 at the time. In the seventh, Alvarez was clipped in the hand by a pitch and it looked as if the rookie took offense to it, which cleared the benches. Both benches were warned. Alvarez would finish 2-for-3 with three RBI.
– Brett Baty was not in Thursday’s lineup due to a little hamstring strain. Luis Guillorme started at third base instead. Guillorme finished 2-for-5 with a strikeout. The Mets had 16 hits Thursday night and Brandon Nimmo was the only Met to go hitless. He finished 0-for-5 with a strikeout.
– Arizona threw in the towel in the ninth inning, giving backup catcher Carson Kelly a turn on the mound with his team down nine runs. The catcher would give up a hit but put down the Mets in the ninth with Omar Narvaez and DJ Stewart getting pinch-hit at-bats.
Trevor Gott made his Mets debut and pitched the ninth. He gave up a two-out single, but would shut down Arizona to give the Mets the 9-0 win.
Highlights
What’s next
The Mets continue their West Coast trip with the first of a three-game series with the San Diego Padres on Friday starting at 9:40 pm
Justin Verlander (3-4, 3.66 ERA) will be on the mound for the Mets and he’ll go up against RHP Yu Darvish (5-6, 4.84 ERA).