Chris Bassitt Cruises, Offense Erupts For 10 Runs In Mets' Home Opener
NEW YORK -- Friday was filled with a series of events at Citi Field from the unveiling of the Tom Seaver Statue to three positive COVID-19 tests in the clubhouse - oh yeah, and there was a baseball game to be played.
Starting pitcher Chris Bassitt took the mound against the Arizona Diamondbacks on Jackie Robinson Day in the Mets' home opener in front of a loud and packed house. And the righty posted his second straight impressive performance in as many outings in a Mets uniform to lead New York to a laugher of a 10-3 victory.
In what was his Citi Field debut, Bassit went six innings on 98 pitches, allowing just one run on two hits, while striking out six and walking two. The only run that Arizona could muster up against Bassitt came on a Daulton Varsho solo homer in the top of the sixth with his team trailing 5-0.
In his first two starts as a Met, Bassitt has gone 2-0 and posted a 0.75 ERA with 14 strikeouts across 12 total innings. The Mets' rotation now carries a 1.32 ERA in their first 47 innings to go along with 47 strikeouts in the first eight games of the season. Bassitt, Max Scherzer and Tylor Megill have each been winners of their first two starts of 2022.
"It was a good read of what this team can be for a lot of games this year," Bassitt said of the Mets' strong performance on Friday.
Entering the day, the Mets' offense was averaging 4.9 runs per game across the first seven contests during the opening road trip of the season. And what better way to greet the Citi Field faithful for the first time in 2022 than giving them some fireworks?
The Mets erupted for 10 runs on 12 hits and four home runs against Zach Davies and the Diamondbacks' bullpen. Davies surrendered five runs (four earned) across 4.1 innings, before Arizona's 'pen matched these five runs as the game progressed.
Pete Alonso entered the day as the National League's RBI leader. Alonso added to his total, knocking in two more runs with a pair of sacrifice-flys to reach 12 RBI across eight games. Robinson Canó also had his first home run of the season.
But Francisco Lindor stole the show, homering from both sides of the plate, while driving in a total of three RBI.
"I'm slowing the game down and I'm being consistent," Lindor said, who credited J.D. Davis for telling him to slow down before he hit his second homer of the afternoon. "Today, most of my at-bats, I won them on deck."
Lindor and Starling Marte, who crushed his first homer as a Met on a three-run blast, went back-to-back to bust the game wide open in the eighth inning. This of course, sent the crowd into a frenzy.
"It felt great to be able to hear the home crowd cheer me on and the rest of the guys," Lindor said. "It's special, I thank them for coming out. And we play for them at the end of the day."
The Mets are the first team in baseball to reach six wins this season. New York has won three in a row following a two game skid and are now 6-2 on year.
On a day, where the Mets lost both Brandon Nimmo and Mark Canha to the COVID-19 IL, manager Buck Showalter was proud of his team for the way they responded after being hit with adversity.
"We got thrown a pretty good curveball this morning," Showalter said. "It's not always going to be easy or on script. We got off script today and our guys responded well.
"Play better, there are no excuses. People are glad we have our problems. They don't care about them."
Carlos Carrasco will take the mound at 1:10 pm on Saturday in the second game of the series with the Diamondbacks as the Mets look to make it four wins in a row.
Read More:
- Mets Unveil Long Awaited Tom Seaver Statue Outside Citi Field
- Mets Lose Brandon Nimmo, Mark Canha To COVID IL Prior To Home Opener
- How Long Of A Leash Should The Mets Give Robinson Canó?
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