MLB

Indians’ Kazmir goes back to the future to shut down Mets

CLEVELAND — This was one trip down memory lane the Mets didn’t need.

Scott Kazmir hopped into Doc Brown’s DeLorean on Friday night and set the destination for 2004, when he was still a Mets prospect and among the most coveted young arms in baseball. Hey, this kid has potential.

In reality, Kazmir is a lifetime removed from the trade that sent him to Tampa Bay for sore-armed Victor Zambrano, and just trying to continue an improbable comeback with the Indians.

On Friday, the lefty stuck it to his old organization — and another phenom, Zack Wheeler — with six shutout innings that helped bury the Mets 8-1 at Progressive Field.

Kazmir (8-7) allowed just four hits and struck out 12, one short of his career high, in sending the Mets to a fourth loss in five games.

“It’s great,” Kazmir said, when asked about dominating his former team. “But I’m at the point where we’re playing for a playoff spot and that’s the one thing I’m thinking about when going out to the mound.

“It’s great that it was against the team that drafted me, but that definitely wasn’t crossing through my mind when I was out there on the mound.”

The previously burned-out Kazmir didn’t appear in a major league game last season after auditioning for several teams, including the Mets, in spring training. A year earlier, he had appeared in only one major league game, with the Angels.

The 29-year-old Kazmir concluded his outing on Friday by striking out the side in the sixth. On his final pitch, he fired a 95-mph missile past swinging Andrew Brown.

“To have a guy like [Kazmir] who was pretty much playing catch in his backyard last year, to throw 95, 96 [mph] and really just dominating games, I could not be more happy that we have him over here,” said former Yankee Nick Swisher, whose eighth-inning grand slam against Tim Byrdak turned a 4-1 game into a runaway.

Wheeler (7-4) scuffled through five innings in which he allowed three runs, two earned, on five hits with five walks. The right-hander was removed after 92 pitches.

“It’s never good when you walk five guys, you make it a lot harder on yourself,” said Wheeler, who threw 92 pitches. “You can see what happens, you get guys on base with free passes and they just move them around.”

Justin Turner homered in the seventh against Cody Allen to account for the Mets’ only run. Juan Lagares’ double in the seventh was the team’s only other extra-base hit.

Michael Bourn’s sacrifice fly in the second extended the Indians’ lead to 2-0, but Wheeler escaped further damage when Drew Stubbs was thrown out by Travis d’Arnaud while attempting to steal second.

The run in the inning was unearned, after Wilmer Flores’ throwing error allowed Stubbs to reach first. Lonnie Chisenhall walked with one out to begin the rally.

Carlos Santana’s sacrifice fly in the first gave the Indians their first run. Bourn and Swisher opened the inning with successive singles before Jason Kipnis walked to load the bases.

Santana’s RBI single in the fifth gave the Indians another run against Wheeler before Gonzalez Germen allowed a run in the sixth on Chisenhall’s double.

The Mets threatened against Kazmir in the third, putting two runners on base before Josh Satin struck out to end the threat. In the fifth, Lagares reached third with one out, but never scored.

“Three quality pitches and [Kazmir’s] change-up was outstanding tonight,” Mets manager Terry Collins said. “There were times he just overpowered us.”