MLB Game Preview - NY Mets at Pittsburgh

Sat Aug 3, 2019 7:05 PM EDT

In a span of six days that includes a scheduled start Sunday against the Pirates in Pittsburgh, New York Mets right-hander Noah Syndergaard will go from one of his signature performances to escaping the trade deadline unscathed to trying to help his team squeeze into the playoffs.

On Tuesday, Syndergaard struck out a season-best 11 in New York's 5-2, 11-inning win over the Chicago White Sox. The next day, the trade deadline passed, and Syndergaard tweeted a classic clip from "The Wolf of Wall Street" with Leonardo DiCaprio's character defiantly screaming into a microphone, "I'm not leaving."

Since the All-Star break, Syndergaard has a 1.91 ERA, 36 strikeouts and seven walks. He has gone at least seven innings in four straight starts for the first time in his career.

"You can tell his confidence is back," Mets catcher Tomas Nido said, according to MLB.com.

"That was probably the best I've seen him," New York manager Mickey Callaway added of Syndergaard's Tuesday start, when he went 7 1/3 innings, gave up one run and five hits and walked one. "He had everything working."

Syndergaard echoed others in the Mets organization, expressing optimism that they can make a run at a wild-card spot.

"The sky's the limit still," he said.

Syndergaard will be pitching the rubber match of the series against the Pirates. The Mets have won five of six series since the All-Star break, including a sweep of the Pirates at home last weekend.

This week, Pittsburgh took the opener 8-4 before New York won Saturday 7-5 when Wilson Ramos had a career-high six RBIs. The Pirates were 2-for-11 with runners in scoring position and lost for the 11th time in 13 games.

"We didn't come up with that big hit. That's baseball right now," said Tom Prince, acting Pirates manager for the first two games of the series.

In the series finale Sunday, Syndergaard (7-5, 4.10 ERA) is slated to face Pittsburgh right-hander Joe Musgrove (8-9, 4.23 ERA).

Syndergaard is 1-1 with a 1.77 ERA in three career starts against Pittsburgh.

Musgrove, on a lesser scale than Syndergaard, also has been effective recently. He has won two of his past three starts, and over his past eight starts he is 4-2 with a 3.09 ERA.

He is 1-1 with an 0.96 ERA in two career appearances, one start, against the Mets.

The long ball has been an issue for Musgrove lately. He has given up eight homers over his past five starts and five homers over his past two starts. His last time out, in Tuesday's 11-4 win at Cincinnati, Musgrove gave up two runs -- both on solo homers -- and five hits in six innings, with four strikeouts and no walks.

It was a game mostly noted for a benches-clearing brawl. Musgrove, already out of the game, returned to the field, but he was not among the three Pirates players suspended.

Pittsburgh manager Clint Hurdle will return to oversee his team Sunday after serving a two-game suspension, and two of the three players are available while they appeal their suspensions. Reliever Keone Kela opted on Saturday to drop his appeal and begin serving a 10-game suspension.

--Field Level Media