Griffin Canning gave the Mets a sick pitching efficiency Thursday evening in additional methods than one.
The fitting-hander held the St. Louis Cardinals to at least one earned run and fanned eight to assist the Mets open the sequence with a 4-1 win at Citi Area. His greatest begin in a Mets uniform thus far, this one got here two days after he was unable to pitch in Minnesota due to an sickness.
After dropping a sequence on the highway to the Minnesota Twins, the Mets (12-7) returned dwelling to open a four-game sequence in opposition to the upstart Playing cards, who had been higher than anticipated by the primary 18 video games. However they went down 4-0 within the second inning and by no means recovered, with Canning getting higher as his outing went on.
The important thing for Canning was his fastball and throwing it excessive to complete off hitters. Having gone so heavy on the breaking pitches in his earlier outings this season, Canning and catcher Luis Torrens thought the St. Louis lineup can be in search of the slider. They had been appropriate in that evaluation.
“Early in the game, [Brendan] Donovan singled on that changeup, and we both kind of looked at each other like, ‘Yeah, he’s probably sitting on that,’” Canning mentioned. “Some days it’s easier than others to kind of pick up what they’re looking for.”
Canning threw 102 pitches within the win, probably the most for a Mets’ arm this season, and went six innings, giving up just one run on three hits and two walks, each of which got here within the first inning. He’s now 2-1 with a 3.43 ERA by 4 begins with the Mets.
“He’s getting ahead with a lot of different pitches,” mentioned supervisor Carlos Mendoza. “Whether it’s the slider, the changeup, using the fastball effectively on a hitter’s count, he’s not just throwing four-seam fastballs there — he’s using all of his pitches. The slider, the changeup, and then when he’s ahead, he’s sneaking fastballs by the hitter. So I think it’s an adjustment, and I think he’s got the ability to read the situation and read what lineups and haters are trying to do to him.”
After the Mets scored 4 runs on right-hander Andrew Pallante within the backside of the second, St. Louis received one again within the high of the third, however that was all Canning would enable. The only to Donovan that Canning talked about got here with two outs and a runner on third to attain the Playing cards’ solely run. He received Nolan Arenado to hit a weak grounder to finish the inning.
Within the fourth, Alec Burleson led off with a bunt single earlier than Canning struck out the subsequent three. From there, he made mild work of St. Louis, retiring the subsequent six. He fielded a bouncing ball by Burleson for the ultimate out within the sixth.
Mark Vientos hit his first dwelling run of the season within the second, main off with a shot to left in opposition to Pallante.
With one out, Starling Marte lined a double to left area, and with two, Brett Baty despatched him dwelling with an RBI single. Tyrone Taylor despatched one up the center to place two on for Francisco Lindor, who hit a single to proper to attain Baty.
Proper fielder Jordan Walker bobbled the ball, and Lindor determined to strive for second base, hoping Walker would overthrow the cutoff man and he might find yourself in scoring place with Juan Soto and Pete Alonso hitting behind him. He received caught in a rundown, however with the infielders keyed in on him, he motioned to Taylor at third to interrupt for dwelling. Lindor knew he might maintain the St. Louis infield busy sufficient to get Taylor dwelling.
“I just peeked over [at third base], so I’m still like kind of shuffling,” Lindor mentioned. “And then after that, I saw him taking off. It was just a matter of, like, ‘I’ve got to be faster than one these guys to not get tagged.’ I survived for the next second or two.”
He survived lengthy sufficient to see Taylor slide in head first.
“It was a bad play that turned into an OK play,” Lindor mentioned.
Pallante (2-1) settled in to go scoreless by the subsequent 4 innings, however the harm was executed. The Playing cards (9-10) did little in opposition to the Mets’ bullpen, managing solely two baserunners over the ultimate three innings in opposition to Reed Garrett, A.J. Minter and Edwin Diaz.
It was a strong bounce-back efficiency for the Mets, who dropped two within the Twin Cities this week. There have been optimistic indicators from Vientos, who got here in hitting simply .145, however had been making laborious contact and getting in good counts. Baty additionally went 2-for-3 with a double and an RBI, a superb day on the plate for a participant who badly wanted it.
However extra importantly, Canning gave them six strong innings, serving to the bullpen within the midst of a busy stretch of video games.
“We needed at least five from him,” Mendoza mentioned. “We were going to watch him closely because he was weak a couple of days ago, but we felt good about him taking the ball today.”
Initially Printed: April 17, 2025 at 9:50 PM EDT
