The New York Mets are absolutely on fire, and they’ve torn their way through the past couple of weeks from outside of playoff contention to just a game and a half behind a spot in the National League playoffs.
They moved to just 1.5 games behind the Philadelphia Phillies in the Wild Card race after a shutout 5-0 win against the Miami Marlins on Tuesday.
The Mets and starter Zack Wheeler blanked the bottom-dwelling Fish on Tuesday night, showing off the number one reason they’ve been on such a hot run: their excellent starting pitching.
Wheeler fired eight scoreless innings on Tuesday, striking out five batters and allowing only one walk. He walked a tightrope at times, giving up 8 hits, but appeared to control a Marlins offense that had trouble making quality contact against him.
The Mets got the only run they needed to take home a win with a Todd Frazier RBI double in the bottom of the first inning. While more runs didn’t end up being necessary, they got them in the form of a three-run long ball from Wilson Ramos in the third inning and a solo shot by Pete Alonso in the fifth.
Alonso’s home run was his 36th of the year, an impressive rookie campaign that has put him in the driver’s seat to win the NL Rookie of the Year award.
The Mets are in playoff contention now, and with its strong pitching staff combined with some timely hitting, could find themselves making an October run.
