PITTSBURGH — Chris Capuano jumped to the lead yesterday in the game of “Can you top this?” that seems to be occurring within the Mets rotation.
Mike Pelfrey, Jon Niese, Dillon Gee and R.A. Dickey had all given the team fine outings in recent days, but Capuano’s three-hit shutout over seven innings at PNC Park was among the top performances by a Mets pitcher this season.
“You go out there and watch somebody do it the right way, the way Niese and especially Dillon has been throwing the ball so great lately,” Capuano said after the Mets beat the Pirates 7-0.
“You watch from the bench and then you come in and watch the video, and I think you try to feed off it as much as you can.”
Capuano (5-6) gave the Mets a third strong performance in his last four starts. The lefty has watched his ERA drop by nearly a full run, to 4.40, over the last three weeks.
But Mets starting pitchers have posted a 2.53 ERA over their last 17 games, the best mark in the major leagues over that stretch. Over the last nine games, no Mets starting pitcher has allowed more than three earned runs.
“[If] you want to know how we are hanging in there, they have been tremendous,” manager Terry Collins said. “They are pitching just crazy. It’s really amazing.”
Capuano and Kevin Correia matched zeroes for six innings before the Mets got a run in the seventh on Jason Bay’s sacrifice fly. The Mets broke open the game with four runs in the eighth and two in the ninth.
The Mets signed Capuano and Chris Young, both of whom had histories of arm trouble, off the free-agent scrap heap last offseason. Young’s season ended last month after he tore the anterior capsule in his shoulder.
But Capuano is thriving.
“He has done exactly what people said he could do if he’s healthy,” Collins said. “He’s a strike thrower, he’s changes speeds, [has a] good breaking ball, great changeup. When we lost Chris Young, you just think that hopefully this guy hangs in there, and he has — and done a great job.”
Capuano said he’s gotten stronger in recent starts.
“I feel like I’m able to throw the ball where I want, and I’ve got my velocity up to a level where my changeup is effective off that fastball,” he said. “It’s just trying to execute pitches one at a time and try to locate the best I can.”