Marcus Stroman Strikes Out Nine In Gutsy Performance - metsmerizedonline.com

With the Mets in the midst of a six-game winning streak, the ball was put in Marcus Stroman‘s hands to keep this hot stretch rolling.

After a so-so Mets debut, Stroman came out to a thunderous crowd of 39,602 at Citi Field, all cheering him on to feast against the division rival Nationals, who sat a game and a half ahead of the Mets entering Friday night’s play. The Mets had done well to beat up on some weaker teams, but now it was time for Stroman and the Mets to show what all they had to offer against a potential playoff opponent.

“That was a playoff atmosphere,” Stroman described of his experience. “From the second I walked out there, that crowd brought it.”

He allowed the first batter, Trea Turner, to single past new Met Joe Panik, but then got Adam Eaton to fly out, followed by back-to-back strikeouts of the Nationals’ two best hitters, Anthony Rendon and Juan Soto.

Stroman kept the groove going in the second inning, as he struck out the side in order with his sharp cutter-slider combination. That made five strikeouts in a row for the small but fiery right-hander.

After Victor Robles singled to lead off the third, he was caught stealing by Wilson Ramos, and Stroman followed with strikeouts of Stephen Strasburg and Turner. Stroman, who is not typically a huge strikeout pitcher, already had seven strikeouts through three innings.

After appearing to settle into a nice rhythm, Stroman briefly lost it in the third inning. He got behind in the count against the first three hitters, and they made him pay as Eaton singled, Rendon tripled him home, and Soto blasted a homer to right center to give the Nationals a 3-0 lead.

Stroman settled things down again though after a first-pitch Matt Adams single, getting Kurt Suzuki to ground into a double play and Brian Dozier to ground out.

In what was then a 3-3 game in the fifth, Stroman induced a couple of comebackers for two easy outs. He then worked around a two-out walk to Turner and a single to Eaton with a huge strikeout of Rendon, keeping the game tied.

Stroman got into trouble again in the sixth, as Soto doubled and advanced to third on an Adams single. Suzuki then grounded one to Todd Frazier, who threw home and caught Soto in a rundown. They got the out at home, but Suzuki and Adams advanced to second and third base respectively in the midst of the action.

After Dozier hit a sharp liner that was caught by Amed Rosario, the Mets opted to put Robles on intentionally to get to Strasburg, who promptly struck out with the bases loaded as Stroman worked his way out of trouble yet again.

In a rather controversial move, Mickey Callaway kept Stroman in to face Turner in the seventh. Stroman walked Turner, and was thus pulled from the game, an emotional roller coaster in which the Mets would eventually be victorious.

Stroman accredited much of his success to the exuberant fans on Friday night, saying he was “extremely thankful to have their presence there, their energy. I don’t think they realize how much we feed off that and how much that kind of gets us going, and allows us to kind of elevate our game when we need to.

“So huge shout to the New York crowd,” Stroman finished. “We’re thankful, and we love it.”

While Stroman was not perfect, he certainly showed his fiery passion and gutsy mentality as he kept the Mets in a position to jump the hurdle and take that game. It was a very fine display in what turned out to be one of the Mets’ most exciting and exhilarating regular-season games in years.