NEW YORK — Carlos Carrasco and the recent heatwave have both been oppressive of late, the Mets righthander on opposing hitters and the weather on the rest of us. One finally broke Tuesday night. You can turn down your air conditioner a bit now.
The elusive Carrasco was on his ‘A’ game once more as the smoldering Mets went up against the listing Reds. He took a shutout into the seventh, got the support of home runs from Francisco Lindor and Jeff McNeil and moved into a tie for the NL lead with his 13th victory as the Mets downed Cincinnati, 6-2, before 30,816 at Citi Field.
The NL East-leading Mets have won five straight and 14 of 16 and will be looking for a three-game sweep on Wednesday afternoon with Taijuan Walker on the mound.
The Mets went up 2-0 as Lindor hit his 20th home run with one out and Mark Canha aboard via a leadoff walk in the third inning. McNeil’s seventh home run opened the Mets’ fourth and he added a run-scoring single in the sixth inning to give Carrasco a 4-0 lead entering the seventh.
Carrasco unraveled a bit there, allowing a two-run homer to Jake Fraley as the Reds halved the margin. Mychal Givens got the final out in the inning. Then the Mets got a two-run single in the bottom of the inning from Darin Ruf to push the lead to four.
Trevor May loaded the bases in the eighth but didn’t allow a run and Seth Lugo pitched a scoreless ninth to finish off Cincinnati.
Carrasco gave up two runs, seven hits and a walk and whiffed nine. Over his last seven starts, he is 5-0 and has pitched 42 2/3 innings to a 1.69 ERA with 42 strikeouts.
He also extended an amazing run by the Mets’ rotation.
The Mets envisioned a rotation to be reckoned with when they added Max Scherzer and Chris Bassitt to join Jacob deGrom, Carrasco and Taijuan Walker. It finally materialized in full when deGrom returned from injury on the Aug. 2. The reality may actually be more impressive than the original idea.
A team needs 27 outs to win a game and over the seven games entering Tuesday those five have averaged 20 per outing – a full inning more than any other starting rotation – over that stretch. Carrasco got 20 outs against Cincinnati.
“It’s only been a week so let’s not get ahead of ourselves,” Bassitt said before first pitch. “But it’s as good as you could probably make it.”
Scherzer threw seven scoreless frames in the Saturday' doubleheader sweep of Atlanta, deGrom finished that series by taking a perfect game into the sixth Sunday and Bassitt allowed one unearned run over eight innings in Monday’s win over the Reds. Now this effort from Carrasco.
“[We’re] just trying to pass the baton on – it’s like a relay race that we’re running,” Bassitt said.
Each pitching performance stands on its own, but to hear them explain it, the Mets starters see it all as a combined effort for a crucial unit on the club.
“I look at it as kind of all of us together . . . feeding off each other, seeing what works with different guys and having the rotation be together,” Scherzer said. “That's what makes a team tick. I've always said the starting rotation is the backbone of the team – we aren’t the strength, but if you don't have a backbone, you don't have a team.”
The starters scutinize each other’s outings and share the accumulated wisdom with a mind toward improvement. The discussions cover everything from mechanics to pitch sequencing.
“It’s some tough love with the six of us,” Bassitt said, including David Peterson. “Just being brutally honest with each other is the way to go. And I think we have five guys or six guys that can really handle that.”
“I’ve not been around something to the level of this,” Bassitt continued. “Who has a Max Scherzer and a deGrom? Cookie [Carraco] has the experience from being around forever. [Walker] is an All-Star and been around. This level of experience and skill? There’s a lot to draw on.”
