Tony Plate - Mets Have Winning Road Trip

The New York Mets had a winning road trip for games from August 27 through September 5th. They got off to a slow start by losing two out of three to the Chicago Cubs. They then won four out of six games as they first took two out of three games from the San Francisco Giants and then took two out of three games from the Los Angeles Dodgers.

In the first game of the series Jon Lester worked six innings allowing three runs and five hits. He drove in two runs with a single and showed his athletic ability by making two fine plays in the field to help the Chicago Cubs to a 7-4 victory over the Mets. Steve Cishek got the win. Noah Syndergaard went six innings allowing four runs and nine hits and struck out six. Jerry Blevins took the loss. Former Met Daniel Murphy who will be a free agent at the end of the season reached base several times against the Mets. 

The next game of the series featured a good pitching matchup between Jacob deGrom and Cole Hamels. deGrom went eight innings and allowed a run and eight hits, struck out ten and walked one. Hamels pitched five scoreless innings and allowed four hits, struck out eight and walked three. In the sixth Todd Frazier led off with a single followed by a walk to Jay Bruce. Kevin Plawecki grounded out to advance both runners. Brandon Nimmo popped out to short. deGrom hit a grounder to Javier Baez, but he could not make a play and the run scored. Chicago tied it in the seventh when Kyle Schwarber singled, then went to second on a force out. Pinch- hitter Ben Zobrist hit a grounder that went under the glove of Jay Bruce into right field. David Bote hit a sacrifice fly to tie it. The game was suspended with the score tied at one at the top of the tenth inning following a rain delay. 

On the next day both teams resumed where they left off and in the eleventh inning Ben Zobrist hit a bases loaded single to win the game. In the series finale Todd Frazier hit a grand slam and drove in five runs as Jason Vargas and the Mets defeated Alec Mills and the Cubs 10-3

The Giants beat the Mets in the first game of the series 7-0 as rookie Andrew Suarez out pitched Zack Wheeler as he allowed two hits in seven innings striking out five with no walks. Wheeler pitched well as he struck out nine with no walks as he allowed four hits and one run over seven innings. Wheeler had been on a good winning streak recently before this loss. Two Giants players making their Major League debuts helped the Giants win the game. Chris Shaw broke a scoreless tie and drove in the first run with a sacrifice fly in the seventh inning. Aramis Garcia homered off Robert Gsellman in the eighth for the Giants second run and then added an RBI single to end the inning.  

In the next game Steven Matz pitched a fine game and struck out eleven batters as the Mets defeated the Giants 2-1 in eleven innings. Evan Longoria homered in the fourth to give the Giants a 1-0 lead. The Mets tied it in the fifth on a Tomas Nido RBI double. In the eleventh Wilmer Flores hit a double to left off Hunter Strickland. He went to third on a ground out. He scored on Todd Frazier’s sacrifice fly to left as Jerry Blevins got the win. 

In the finale Syndergaard pitched a two-hitter for his first career complete game by striking out eleven. Conforto helped Noah win by hitting a two-run homer off of Chris Stratton who took the loss as the Mets won 4-1

In the first game of the Dodger series Jacob deGrom pitched six innings allowing one- run and drove in a run. Nimmo hit a three-run homer in the ninth as Smith got the win over Maeda as the Mets won 4-2. In the next game the Dodgers came back from a four-run deficit as Barnes and Freese homered. The Dodgers scored six runs in the seventh with Machado, Freese and Hernandez driving in runs and Grandal added a two-run double as the Dodgers won 11-4 as Hill defeated Vargas. 

In the last game Wheeler despite being hit in the chest by a grounder which led to an X-ray and CT scan went seven innings and gave up three runs and nine strikeouts and led the Mets over Ryu 7-3. Flores, Jackson and Rosario had RBI singles as the Mets completed their road trip in a positive way. The starting pitching has been fantastic as the Mets continue to play for pride.