The New York Mets entered Game 3 of the World Series down, two games to none to the Kansas City Royals. It was a cold night at Citi Field approaching game time with a first pitch temp of 52 degrees and dropping. The crisp New York night, paired with the enthusiastically loud crowd atmosphere played host to a 9-3 Mets win on Friday night.
Noah Syndergaard, the starter for New York, managed to out-pitch the Royals’ Yordano Ventura. He went 6 innings and struck out 6, giving up 3 hard-earned runs along the way. The tone of the game was set with the initial pitch in the top of the first inning. Alcides Escobar, ultra-aggressive leadoff hitter for Kansas City is known to swing at the first pitch nearly every at bat. Syndergaard countered this by throwing up and in on the first pitch of the at bat, with the 98 MPH fastball sailing a good five inches above catcher Travis d’Arnaud’s glove. Escobar seemed to accept the challenge by nodding his head at Syndergaard, while meanwhile the Royals dugout visibly and audibly upset, with Mike Moustakas shouting at the Mets starter in retaliation. There were no benches clearing and no further incidents on the evening of any kind.
David Wright entered the game batting 2-for-11 (.182) in the series, until Friday that is. Friday was Wright’s arrival as he smacked two hits, one of which was a home run, and drove in four. The round-tripper came in the bottom of the first. Down 1-0 with Curtis Granderson on base, Wright drove a pitch to left field to not only counter the Royals’ early score, but to put the Mets in the lead and on the offensive early in the game.
The Royals would get another two runs in the top of the second with Alex Rios being a key contributor. He drove in Salvador Perez with a single to left, and scored a run on a passed ball by d’Arnaud.
The Mets would not be denied as they looked to avoid a 3-0 series disadvantage, rallying to score 2 more runs in the bottom of the 3rd on Granderson’s homer into the first row in the right field corner. That put the Mets up 4-3, and gave them a lead that they would not relinquish.
Syndergaard settled down after a rocky couple of innings and performed like a veteran out on the mound. A very good start on a massive stage.
The Royals did manage to get seven hits off of Syndergaard, however the tall, burly, right-hander stretched those over the six inning start, and Zobrist’s one-out double in the first was the team’s only extra base hit of the evening.
Game 4 figures to be another interesting pitching matchup. Rookie Steven Matz goes for the hometown Mets while the Royals will go with 6-10 righty, Chris Young. Young pitched 3 scoreless innings of relief in Game 1’s 14-inning affair, earning the win in the process. Matz, at 24-years-old, has started just 6 regular season games and 2 postseason games. In those two postseason starts, the has given up a combined 4 runs in 9.2 innings to the Dodgers and Cubs.
I LIVE FOR BASEBALL BLOG 