The Mets and Phyllis had done this before in Flushing. On Father’s Day in 1964, Philadelphia’s Jim Bunning played a perfect game against the Mets at Shea Stadium. Bunning needed only 90 courts of experience, which is now a monument in Cooperstown, New York, on his plaque in the Hall of Fame.
If Bunning’s game was a masterpiece for a museum, Friday’s was something more appropriate for a refrigerator door. Both are works of art. One is a little less perfect.
Mets 3, Phyllis 0 | Result from the box Game by game
It took the Mets five pitchers and a total of 159 pitches to keep them away from Phyllis on Friday, winning 3-0 at City Field. Starter Tyler Megill was drawn after 88 pitches and five innings. The relay of Drew Smith, Joelie Rodriguez, Seth Lugo and Edwin Diaz completed it, with the pitchers combining to complete six walks along the way.
This led to the first without a striker in the majors this season, the 17th in history with more than one pitcher and the first with exactly five. The 159 fields have been the most non-striker since at least 1988, when field numbers became widely available.
Smith, Rodriguez and Lugo said they did not know about the no-attacker until the ninth inning. Sitting with them at a post-match press conference, Diaz was incredulous: “So no one knew but me?” He said.
Until the last three outs, of course, everyone knew. And as clumsy as the result of boxing may seem, Diaz ended the evening with a wave of dominance, striking out three All-Stars – Bryce Harper, Nick Castellanos and JT Realmuto – with solid, biting sliders.
The players exploded on the field, showering themselves with Diaz and showering each other with sunflower seeds. The victory raised the Mets’ record to 15-6, the best result in the big ones. They haven’t lost a series yet.
“The most impressive part of our team is that if not one person catches you, it’s another,” said hunter James McCann. “And that’s what you see tonight – boys picking up each other by getting out of the pen, putting more zeros in multiple columns. This was the identity of our team at the beginning of the year. It was a complete team effort. “
Megill is now 4-0 with an average run of 1.93, a figure suitable for Jacob deGrom, the injured ace he replaced in the rotation. Megill said he had never been part of a striker at any level, and center fielder Brandon Nimo – who dived to catch a sinking liner from Jean Segura in the third inning – was also not.
McCann had it in 2020 when he caught the non-attacking Lucas Jolito for the Chicago White Sox. But this game, McCann noted, is played without fans due to the limitations of the pandemic. The Mets sold 32,416 tickets for Friday’s game, and McCann made noise adjustments.
When Diaz arrived at the mound for the ninth, McCann told him he would use traditional signs – with his fingers, that is – instead of the new PitchCom system, which sends the characters audibly through a receiver in the pitcher’s cap.
“It will be strong,” warned McCann Diaz, who was eager to finish off the attackers with the slider.
“It was really good today,” said Diaz, who has 17 outs in 10 innings this season. “It sucked in a goat. I knew he would call the slider often because I was facing the heart of the order.
Lugo, who had received the last two outs of the eighth, had retired to the weight room for the ninth inning. As Diaz warmed up, Lugo noticed during the Mets show – called by Gary Cohen, who was celebrating his 64th birthday – that Phyllis hadn’t received any hits.
“Drew, don’t say anything, but look,” Lugo told Smith. “We need to get out.”
So they crowded into the dugout with their teammates, including Pete Alonso, who was home in the sixth inning but was sent off for defense in the ninth. Alonso said the dugout felt like a can of soda, shaken but still closed, ready to explode. Alonso said that the closest to being without a striker, he watched the most important moments on television.
“You get this thing like a super tingling feeling of excitement,” he said. “You’re like, I hope that’s all, I hope he doesn’t hit a broken bat duck farting over someone’s head or something. Just pray, like, please, please, please, let that happen. ”
For decades, these prayers have never been answered for the Mets. It took them their 51st season in 2012 to get their first striker without Johan Santana, also on Friday at Citi Field. Santana threw 134 pitches, including one that was stung by Carlos Beltran of the St. Louis Cardinals. He found himself in fair territory, but was declared a foul, preserving the gem of Santana.
After so many omissions – including two offers from Tom Severe, shattered in the ninth inning – the Mets probably needed a space break. But the postscript was sobering for Santana, who made just 10 more starts in the big tournament with an 8.27 ERA before shoulder problems ended his career.
The Mets do not take any chances with Megil, who made 23 starts in the major leagues and has not yet thrown 100 pitches. They had to use Rodriguez and Lugo, manager Buck Shawolter said, as neither had been directing for some time. These pitchers did their job, and Smith and Diaz were just amazing, inflating seven of the eight beaters they faced.
It’s too early to say for sure that things are finally breaking the Mets’ path. But the team has played 9,507 games in its history and Friday was only the second without a striker. As imperfect as it was, the achievement was something that players, fans – and broadcasters over the age of 64 – will remember when they grow old and lose their hair, many years later.
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