Jon Niese continued this string of good starting pitching for the Mets, going 7 innings and giving up 3 runs (2 earned) on 6 hits and 2 walks. He struck out 3 and lowered his ERA to 5.10 in earning his first win of the season, improving to 1-3.
David Wright went 2-4 with 2 home runs and a walk, driving in 3 runs and scoring 3 more. He also stole a base, his 5th of the year. He's now batting .262 with 5 HR's, 18 R, and 14 RBI.
Other good things: Jason Pridie broke the game open early with a 3-run homer in the 3rd off Arizona starter Armando Galarraga, who took the loss, only going 3 innings and giving up 6 runs (2 earned). It was the first homer of Pridie's career and it made the score 6-0 Mets at the time. He got it a day after he got his first career hit. Carlos Beltran continued his hot hitting with 2 hits, including a double, and 2 runs scored. Ike Davis reached base four times with a double, a single, and two walks, scoring one run and driving in another. His slash stats stand at .316/.407/.579 on the year. Tim Byrdak was credited with an inning of scoreless relief, and Ryota Igarashi was credited with two-thirds of an inning of scoreless relief. Igarashi finished the game and not Francisco Rodriguez even though the Met lead was only at four in the 9th.
Bad things: Josh Thole had another o-fer, going 0-for-3, although he added a sac fly to drive in a run. Thole's defense also continues to regress, as he allowed his 5th passed ball of the season with Niese pitching. D.J. Carrasco again was unimpressive, giving up a run and recording only one out in relief of Niese. He gave up back-to-back doubles to Justin Upton and Stephen Drew to begin his outing before getting the D'back's Chris Young to pop out. The Mets were only 2-10 with RISP.
Aftermath: Fortunately, Carrasco was demoted to Triple-A Buffalo after the game. He'll start games in Buffalo as Dillon Gee will take on a long relief role in the Met bullpen. K-Rod stands at 6 games finished on the year. He's on pace to finish with 46 games finished, which would leave him short of the 55 that he needs for the option for next year on his contract to vest. Terry Collins tried to stay away from Jason Isringhausen today, as he pitched in the first two games of the series.
Overall reaction: A solid win for the Mets and a series sweep! They're starting to gain some momentum as they embark on what should be an important early NL East road trip with stops in Washington and Philly. Niese was really attacking hitters. He pitched better earlier in the game than later, as he started to get hit hard starting with the 4th inning. Despite this, he was able to hold the D'backs to one run each in the 4th, 6th, and 7th innings although Arizona was able to get multiple baserunners to reach in each inning. Wright said he thought he was getting some good at-bats in during his 0-for-20 slump and that he hasn't changed much since then. That's a great sign to me considering his performance today. Thole is really starting to worry me. His average is down, his strikeouts are up, and most importantly, since he is a catcher, his defense has seemed to have gotten worse from last year. He gave up his 5th passed ball on what seemed to be a cross-up between him and Niese. Otherwise, the Mets played solid defense today, committing no errors and rebounding from their one error performance yesterday.
Up next: The Mets start their series with the Nationals in Washington on Tuesday. Chris Young (1-0, 1.46 ERA) will go for the Mets and oppose Jordan Zimmermann (1-3, 3.70) of the Nats.
Box score
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