Griffin Canning spins gem as Mets take series opener from Cardinals
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No Mets starter had reached 100 pitches in an outing this year.The group entered play having recorded the sixth-fewest innings among starting staffs in baseball. Which made Canning’s six-inning, one-run, 102-pitch beauty all the sweeter as he halted the Mets’ two-game skid. The righty, brought in on a one-year, $4.25 million pact this winter after five middling seasons with the Angels, has looked reborn in Queens.
Through four starts, a pitcher who projected as depth before Sean Manaea and Frankie Montas went down owns a 3.43 ERA. Thursday, he limited the Cardinals — who entered play having scored the fifth-most runs in MLB — to three hits and two walks while striking out eight.He allowed a run in the third inning, when a Victor Scott II single, steal and Brendan Donovan single narrowed the Mets’ lead to 4-1, but that would be all the damage on a night he got better as he went deeper. He retired the final nine batters he faced, including striking out four straight in the fourth and fifth.
His four-seamer, slider and changeup combined for 16 whiffs as he has seemed to have found a pitch mix with which he can thrive. Manager Carlos Mendoza pushed him, allowing him to pitch t...