Chris Bassitt has been a tremendous addition to this Mets rotation. Excuse me… this elite Mets rotation.
Heading into Tuesday’s matchup versus the Cardinals, the 33-year-old had struck out 10.00, walked 2.00, and allowed 1.00 homers per nine innings, respectively, with a 3.00 ERA.
The double-zeros a nod to Mr. and Mrs. Met, no doubt.
Those metrics, on top of Bassitt’s elite individual pitch values — yes, on all six of them — have invested parties feeling pretty good about the new guy in town. Since coming over from Oakland this winter, Bassitt’s endeared himself to fans with a bulldog mentality on the mound and results to match it.
Through his first three starts, Bassitt’s given opposing hitters next to nothing with regard to tendencies.
April 9 at Washington: 29% four-seam, 25% slider, 18% sinker, 13% cutter, 8% each on his curve and changeup.
April 15 versus Arizona: 37% cutter, 23% sinker, 15% four-seam, 12% curve, 8% changeup, 4% slider
April 20 versus San Francisco: 32% sinker, 27% slider, 14% four-seam, 14% cutter, 9% curve, 3% changeup
Good luck cheating fastball or sitting breaking ball against a kitchen-sink repertoire like that.
Facing a scuffling St. Louis offense that was held in check by Max Scherzer for seven innings in the Mets’ thrilling 5-2 win on Monday, Bassitt was surely hoping to keep the Cards on their toes and stay on this exciting trajectory.
Let’s do it.
After working around two baserunners in a clean first (Paul Goldschmidt single, Nolan Arenado walk), inducing three flyball outs in the frame, Bassitt set down St. Louis in order in the second.
Offensively, it didn’t take long for the Mets to get rolling.
Jeff McNeil (.316/.381/.474, 157 wRC+, 0.8 fWAR entering the evening) hustled out his fifth double of the season and third of the series to lead off the second and James McCann smoked a double over Harrison Bader’s head in the next at-bat, staking New York to an early 1-0 lead.
Hicks’ night ended prematurely, coming out after walking Brandon Nimmo in the third. Apparently, the Cardinals coaches and trainers weren’t satisfied with Hicks’ output after being struck by a Dominic Smith line drive in the second.
Katie Woo of The Athletic reported shortly after that Hicks came out with what the Cardinals described as a right wrist contusion. An exit velocity of 99.7 MPH will do that. Hope he’s OK. Fun hurler.
Young righty Andre Pallante, 23, took the ball (1.42 ERA over four MLB appearances; 6.1 IP) with two men on and was welcomed bluntly by Starling Marte’s RBI double down the third-base line, extending the Mets’ lead to 2-0.
The Mets came into the night hitting .275/.369/.399 with runners in scoring position (131 wRC+, seventh in MLB) and a remarkable .328/.423/.478 with two outs in those spots (174 wRC+, fourth in MLB).
As we’ve noticed in years past, producing in those situations is usually what separates a postseason team from a roster enjoying October golf. So far, so good. Speaking of so good…
Bassitt worked around a Tommy Edman walk in a scoreless third and erased Nolan Arenado’s leadoff single in the fourth via Dom Smith’s unassisted double play on Dylan Carlson’s hard-hit groundball to first. This guy is unflappable.
McCann added his second hit of the night in the fifth, as did Marte, but Francisco Lindor’s 101.9 MPH flyball and its .810 expected batting average fell around 30 feet short of paydirt to end the inning. Thanks, MLB.
Chris Bassitt struck out two in the fifth and escaped a potential extra-base hit in the sixth thanks to Mark Canha’s sprinting grab on a Goldschmidt liner that seemed destined for the base of the wall, keeping the goose eggs intact.
Bassitt finished his night with six shutout innings (94 pitches, 55 strikes), allowing two hits with three walks and five strikeouts. His ERA is down to 2.25 on the season.
Three-and-a-half times through, the Mets’ rotational ERA is at 2.16 with 0.85 WHIP. Wow.
McCann added another base hit in the seventh, his first three-hit game since June 2 last season. Any offensive uptick from the 31-year-old backstop (4-for-32 to start the season; .125/.237/.250) would be a welcome development.
Drew Smith worked a clean inning in the bottom half, extending his scoreless streak to eight to start the season (8 IP, 9 K, 3 BB). This young man’s been a godsend for the Mets’ relief corps.
Pete Alonso got hit in the helmet by a Kodi Whitley changeup in the top of the eighth, the second time he’s been hit in the melon this season. He took his base, clearly miffed. Benches were enlivened and umpires issued warnings but nothing escalated. Still, scary stuff.
Adam Ottavino hit Edman on the foot with a slider to start his night but rebounded nicely to strike out Goldy and O’Neill and draw a soft liner from Arenado, at-bat as the tying run. Huge stop.
Canha and McNeil both singled off Aaron Brooks in the ninth, Nimmo drew a walk, and Marte became the third Mets hitter to get plunked (92.7 MPH sinker) to force in a valuable third insurance run.
Not like it was needed. Edwin Diaz worked around a leadoff walk to secure the Mets’ 14th win in their first 19 games and lock up their sixth consecutive series win to start the year. Per the SNY broadcast, that’s a franchise-first.
Carlos Carrasco and Steven Matz face off for a Wednesday matinee to close out the series and the road trip. LFGM, pals.
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