Mets Devastated And Silenced In Wild Card Loss
Heartbreaking. That’s the only word to describe the feeling New York Mets fans are experiencing. A devastating ninth inning homer off of Jeurys Familia was all the San Francisco Giants needed to snatch a 3–0 victory and ticket into the NLDS.
The National League wild card game took place Wednesday night and saw a pitchers duel between Noah Syndergaard and Madison Bumgarner. Both pitchers were performing at the peak of their games.
Syndergaard was outstanding and dominate. Holding back Giant hitters rendering them hitless through five innings. The first base hit came with two outs in the sixth to Denard Span. Span stole second with Brandon Belt at the plate. With the pressure on Belt hit a fly ball deep to centerfield. In a Willie Mays style over the shoulder catch, Curtis Granderson robbed Belt of an extra base hit and a run.
With neither team able to score, the seventh was almost Syndergaard’s undoing. With Brandon Crawford on first, Angel Pagan beat out a slow grounder hit towards the first baseman James Loney. With the pressure of Crawford and Pagan on base, Joe Panik hit a comebacker to Syndergaard that deflected off his glove to shortstop TJ Rivera. Rivera was able to cleanly make the out at first. The play ended the inning and Syndergaard’s nearly flawless night.
Syndergaard pitched an incredible game. The 24-year-old exited the game giving up only two hits, walked three and struck out 10. But sadly it was all for naught. Syndergaard’s biggest pitch count during the regular season was 118. He threw 108 in wild card.
“I’ve got to rank this one tonight as good as any under the circumstances,” Manager Terry Collins said of Syndergaard. “He stepped up when we needed him.”
In a scoreless game extending Syndergaard, an extra inning might have been the difference maker. But either way Mets offense continued to be silenced by Bumgardner sheer brilliance inning after inning.
In the top of the eighth reliever, Addison Reed came in to be the bridge between Syndergaard and closer Jeurys Familia.
Reed added some anxiety with a runner in scoring position he allowed Belt to walk. With Buster Posey at the plate, catcher Rene Rivera let the ball get past him, advanced the runners. With first base open the Mets took a very risky chance. They intentionally walked Posey to face Hunter Pence with the bases loaded. The decision paid off huge as Reed struck out
Brandon Crawford sliced a leadoff double to start off the ninth inning of the Mets closer Familia. Following a big strikeout of Pagan to get the first out, Familia walked Panik. Now with two runners on base and only one out, Conor Gillaspie came to bat.
Familia had 51 saves over the course of the regular season wasn’t on his game. He delivered a pitch to Gillaspie that Gillaspie crushed a three-run homer into the left field stands. It was the first scoring play of the game and it gave the Giants a 3–0 lead.
“I try to make quality pitches,” Familia said on SNY. “I think I was just trying to be too perfect. That’s all.”
The Mets were then retired in order in the bottom of the ninth with Bumgarner still on the mound he completed the game. It’s his third career complete game shutout in the postseason. The Giants ace has now gone 24 scoreless innings in winner take all situations.
Following the game Syndergaard tweeted around 1am a summarization of his feelings that are probably shared by everyone recovering from the loss:
