METS 7 - GIANTS 0
If you polled Mets fans in March, which two pitchers would have complete games by June 5, nobody would have guessed Jason Vargas. Nobody.
But on Wednesday night Vargas did just that. The lefty went nine strong, allowing only five hits and a walk as he blanked the San Francisco Giants 7-0, ending the Mets three-game losing streak, and, for one night anyway, quieting the "fire Mickey Callaway" chants at Citi Field.
It has been a whirlwind for Vargas this season. Ever since he rejoined the Mets last year he has been considered a wasted arm at the back-end of the rotation, a guaranteed loss every fifth day. And for the better part of a season and a half that has been the case. This year alone Vargas would sometime struggle to even get through one inning of work, let alone four or five. But if you look closely he's been one of the Mets best pitchers for two months running.
Since an April 19 start in St. Louis, Vargas has allowed only eight earned runs in his last 39 innings, (including Wednesday night). His ERA in that span is 1.86. That is better than anyone on the Mets, including Jacob deGrom, last season's Cy Young Award winner.
Wednesday's start against a bad Giants team was just an affirmation of the fact. For a team that tried former Ottawa Champion, Wilmer Font in the fifth starter's spot, and even signed journeyman Ervin Santana a little over a week ago as security, Vargas is letting it be known the fifth spot is his ... for now.
In three of his first four innings on Wednesday, Vargas worked in and out of trouble, then put things in cruise control the rest of the night. From the fifth inning on, Vargas allowed only two hits and nobody got to second base. He even retired six in a row at one point. It was a dominant effort for a guy who didn't need to break 90 on the radar gun.
Don't get too used to this, however. Vargas faces the New York Yankees on Monday.
Offensively, the Mets did more than enough. Leading 1-0 in the bottom of the fourth, Michael Conforto cracked his 11th homer of the season to give the Mets a 2-0 lead. Later in the inning, Amed Rosario connected on a no-doubter to right-center for a three-run homer to push the lead to 5-0. Finally in the seventh, with the Mets leading 6-0, Adeiny Hechavarria launched a homer into the party deck in left to make it 7-0, Metropolitans.
On a more sour note, Robinson Cano again struggled. He left the game with a quad injury after grounding into a rally and inning killing-doubleplay in the third inning. The injury is the same one that put the struggling former Yankee on the shelf back on May 22. At least the fans had someone to boo at.
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