No-hitter or not
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let him overexert his right shoulder.
”The first time I even thought about what was going on was going out for the sixth,” he said. ”It was happening so quickly. You get into a rhythm that way,
and that wasn’t bad as well.”
Soroka did not allow a hit until the seventh inning, Freddie Freeman homered and drove in both runs, and the Atlanta Braves beat the struggling New York Mets
2-0 on Wednesday.
Soroka, the youngest pitcher in the major leagues and one of baseball’s top prospects, returned from a shoulder strain that sidelined him since May 17 to
outpitch NL ERA leader Jacob deGrom in a game that lasted only 2 hours, 12
minutes.
Making his fourth career start, Soroka (2-1) gave up one hit, one walk and struck out four in 6 1/3 innings . He had a simple game plan.
”Pitch my game and let them adjust to my game as opposed to the other way around,” Soroka said. ”I think we did a really good job of that.”
Freeman, the NL batting leader, has hit safely in 23 of his past 24 games. He drove in the first run with a single in the fourth off deGrom (4-2). He homered
off Jeremy Blevins in the eighth .
Freeman has five homers in his past seven games and 14 overall.
Atlanta manager Brian Snitker said that Soroka would be on a pitch count, so it was no surprise when he replaced him with A.J. Minter after Michael Conforto
singled to begin the seventh after 74 pitches.
The Mets have lost 10 of their past 11 and 17 of their past 21. They went 3-6 at SunTrust Park this season against the NL East-leading Braves.
DeGrom (4-2) allowed seven hits and one run and struck out seven in seven innings and threw 86 pitches. He began the game leading with majors with a 0.81
ERA since April 21, but trailed 1-0 in the fourth when Dansby Swanson doubled
with one out and scored on Freeman’s single.
The punchless Mets have scored 10 runs in their past 87 innings. They’ve lost deGrom’s past five outings even though he’s allowed only five runs over that
span.
”He threw seven really stressful innings
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Riley Sutter Jersey , especially the last couple of innings,” New York
manager Mickey Callaway said. ”He had to grind thorough there and did a great
job of keeping us in the game and giving us a chance to win like he does every
time.”
Conforto moved to second on a wild pitch by Soroka in the seventh, but didn’t advance when Minter struck out Brandon Nimmo and Jay Bruce popped up. Soroka’s
other base runner was Bruce, who walked to begin the second and was erased on a
double play.
Arodys Vizcaino earned his 12th save in 14 chances in a shaky ninth. Nimmo doubled with two outs, advancing Conforto to third, before Bruce popped up to
end it.
DeGrom said he wasn’t blaming teammates for the lack of run support, but third baseman Todd Frazier summed up the state of the Mets’ offense.
”After the game, I said, `Dude, I’m sorry. I don’t know what’s going on. I don’t know why we’re not producing for you,’ ” Frazier said. ”We talk about
trying too hard. Maybe we’re trying too hard when he’s pitching, but a guy
throws like that, he works fast. He was just dominant.”
STILL SCORCHING
Facing a shift in the fourth, Freeman hit an opposite-field single, improving his average since the start of 2013 with runners in scoring position to
.361
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Giants Jersey , best in the majors over that span.
He’s hitting .413 against the Mets in 12 games this year and has a .318 average, 22 homers and 94 RBIs in 134 games against the Mets, but his thoughts
were mostly on his mother. Wednesday marked the death of Rosemary Freeman, who
passed away from skin cancer when Freddie was 8 years old.
”I don’t know if I’ve ever done well on this day,” he said. ”It’s hard to keep my emotions in check. We lost her way too young. I hit that really high, I
know I hit it good, but I think she pulled that one over for me today.”
TRAINER’S ROOM
Mets: RHP Noah Syndergaard has been prescribed more rest after getting a second opinion on a strained ligament in his index finger. Callaway said
Syndergaard’s right finger is ”tender to the touch.” Syndergaard, on the
disabled list retroactive to May 26, was examined Tuesday in New York. There is
no immediate timetable for his return.
Braves: RHP Julio Teheran, out since June 5 with a right thumb contusion, is eligible to come off the disabled list Friday, but the Braves have yet to
announce their rotation for the weekend.
UP NEXT
Mets: LHP Steven Matz (2-4, 3.53 ERA) threw a season-high 105 pitches in his previous start, a no-decision against the Yankees. He’ll face Matt Koch (4-3,
4.20) as the Mets open a series against the Diamondbacks.
Braves: RHP Anibal Sanchez (2-0
Youth
Bradley Chubb Jersey , 2.37 ERA) will try for his first victory in six
starts against San Diego against the Padres’ Tyson Ross (5-3, 3.43).
—
Nicklas Backstrom did so well on faceoffs with an injured hand he even surprised himself.
”It’s the playoffs,” Backstrom said after the Washington Capitals‘ 4-2 loss to the Tampa Bay Lightning on Thursday night that evened the Eastern Conference
final at two games apiece. ”You’ve just got to grind. It felt good on the first
couple faceoffs, so I just kept taking them.”
Returning from a four-game absence with a right hand injury, Backstrom won six of nine faceoffs and looked more like himself as the night wore on. With
Game 5 looming Saturday night at Tampa Bay, Backstrom’s improvement is one of
the keys to Washington bouncing back from consecutive home losses.
”I should get back to normal,” Backstrom said after playing 18:51 night in his return. ”I feel really good. I don’t know (how normal) exactly. If I didn’t
feel good, I wouldn’t play. The doctors wouldn’t let me play, either.”
Team doctors cleared Backstrom to play around lunchtime, and by pregame warmups he was drawing an ovation from fans thrilled to see him back in the
lineup. The crowd roared when Backstrom won the faceoff on his first shift, and
he got back into a rhythm centering the third line.
”It was so fun to be back out there,” Backstrom said. ”It’s where everyone wants to be. You want to be on the ice. It’s just too bad we didn’t get the
win.”
A hard-luck loss included two penalties by fill-in No. 2 center Lars Eller, who has five in the past two games. Coach Barry Trotz didn’t mess with his top
two lines, but Backstrom could easily be promoted to skate with Jakub Vrana and
T.J. Oshie in Game 5.
”We’re going to need him pushing forward, especially now that he has a game under
him
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minutes and a bigger role. You could tell as the game went on he was getting
more and more comfortable, so he’s going to be a much-needed asset for us in
these next few games, for sure.”
Backstrom appears ready to do that. The 30-year-old Swedish center hadn’t played since taking a slap shot from Pittsburgh’s Justin Schultz on May 5, but
if it were up to him, he would have been back much sooner.
”Nick has been champing at the bit for a while now,” said Trotz, lauding Backstrom’s game. ”We’ve been holding him back a little bit, but he’s ready to
go.”
Even on a team featuring Alex Ovechkin, the Capitals have gone how Backstrom has gone for the better part of a decade. He’s the second-longest-tenured player
on the team, and this was his first career game in the conference finals.
”As a hockey player, you want to play,” Backstrom said. ”It feels nice to be back.”
—
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