O-M-GEE! Dillon Gee makes a diving toss to first base in the second inning to force out Roger Bernadina on an attempted bunt in the Mets’ 5-1 victory over the Nationals at Citi Field yesterday. (
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No one has a nickname for the days Dillon Gee pitches. Sandwiched between phenoms Matt Harvey and Zack Wheeler, Gee showed the kids are not the only ones who can pitch well for the Mets.
Gee battled through six innings and picked up his fourth win in his past six starts, allowing just one run in a 5-1 victory over the Nationals yesterday in front of an announced crowd of 26,246 fans at Citi Field.
It wasn’t Harvey Day or Wheeler Watch. Just Gee figuring out a way to win the game. A week after getting pounded by the Phillies, Gee benefitted from two extra days of rest and returned to the form he showed before that last outing.
Going back to May 30, when he beat the Yankees at Yankee Stadium, Gee has five quality starts in six outings.
“I really thought the start at Yankee Stadium just shot his confidence as high as it can be,” manager Terry Collins said. “He now knows he’s got good enough stuff that his arm isn’t going to hurt him, he can make pitches when he needs to make them. I think it’s made a big difference.”
Gee got the run support that has been hard to come by for Mets starting pitchers this season, and the bullpen bounced back after its Friday night implosion that cost Harvey a win. Daniel Murphy led the offense with a 3-for-5 day as the Mets got to Nationals starter Taylor Jordan in his major league debut and took advantage of three Washington errors.
Third baseman Ryan Zimmerman made two of the errors. The first allowed Marlon Byrd to reach base and eventually score the tying run in the fourth inning. Zimmerman then committed another error in the fifth on a Byrd grounder that was compounded when Ian Desmond picked the ball up and made a throwing error, allowing Murphy to score from second with the go-ahead run.
The Mets have won nine of their past 14, their improved play coinciding with David Wright delivering a pep talk to the team two weeks ago when they had lost six of seven and dipped to 15 games under .500.
“I just think that … I’m a hell of a motivator,” Wright joked when asked about the team playing better.
The Mets beat the Cubs on a Kirk Nieuwenhuis walk-off homer the next night, and Wright said that relaxed the team.
“I think that kind of kick-started us,” Wright said. “We were able to take a deep breath. We won a game. It wasn’t pretty, but we won a game. From then on I think it allowed us to take a deep breath and just enjoy playing the game and play a little more free.”
Yesterday, the Mets bounced back after their terrible loss Friday night, when the Nationals tied the game in the eighth inning after Harvey’s brilliant outing.
Gee, who is battling forearm tendinitis in his pitching arm, got into trouble early but found his way out of it. He struck out Jayson Werth to strand two runners in the first inning and was the beneficiary of two double plays to work out of problems. He allowed just one run while striking out four.
After allowing three homers in Philadelphia on June 22, the Mets gave him two extra days’ rest this week, flipping his spot with Harvey. Gee said he did not feel great yesterday, but still figured out a way.
“It was big to get out of that first inning like that,” Gee said. “I just tried to bear down and make pitches out of the stretch. I didn’t feel all that good today but it went my way.”