Remembering Mets History (2019) Noah Syndergaard Pitches A Shut Out & Hits A HR In The 1-0 Win

 Thursday May 2nd, 2019: On a weekday-matinee at Citi Field, Mickey Callaway's Mets (16-15) were struggling to stay above .500. 

The 2019 Mets had a good start to the year, then would struggle to fall ten games under .500 at the break. In the second half, they would win 15 of 16 games from late July to early August to get them back in the wild card race. Although they went 17-9 in September, they fell short of a playoff berth. They finished the year at 86-76.

On this day their early season hitting struggles continued, but their pitching was exceptional, as Noah Syndergaard did it all by himself.

The Mets hosted David Bell's, Cincinnati Reds (13-18), as Noah went up against Tyler Mahle.

In the 1st inning, Syndergaard began the game, fanning the first two Reds Jesse Winker &
Eugenio Suarez. He then allowed a base hit to Derek Dietrich but got Yasiel Puig to pop out to short stop to end the inning.

In the 2nd inning, Jose Pereza led off with a base hit, but Jose Iglesias grounded into a 6-4-3 double play, then Noah retired Todd Frazier on a fly ball.

In the bottom of the 3rd, Noah Syndergaard led off the inning with a HR to left center field. 

It was his second HR of the season. 

On April 2nd, he had hit his first HR off the Cardinals Dakota Hudson in a 7-4 loss at St. Louis. 

Trivia: In his career Syndergaard has hit six HRs. The first came in his Rookie Year of 2015 the Mets NL Championship season.

In 2016 he hit three HRs tying Madison Bumgarner for the league lead for pitchers. 

In 2019, Noah hit two more HRs as well.

On this day, Noah's run would be all the Mets offense could put up on the board, as they would only scatter four hits off Tyler Mahle through five innings. The Reds bullpen held the Mets hitless thru the final four innings.

After a 3rd inning walk, Syndergaard retired the next 18 Reds in a row into the 9th inning when Derek Dietrich singled. 

Along the way he struck out ten batters, walking just one. The Reds collected four hits on the afternoon, the first three singles all came in the first two innings.

In the 9th inning after the Dietrich two out single, pinch runner Michael Lorenzen stole second. Noah then struck out Yasiel Puig looking at a third strike to end the exciting game, with a 1-0 win.

Trivia: Noah became just the tenth pitcher in history to throw a shutout hitting a HR in a 1-0 victory & just the third pitcher to do it while striking out ten or more batters.