Mets Stat of the Day: Sept./Oct. 2021

MLB.com is keeping track of a Stat of the Day for the Mets this season, highlighting a unique, interesting or fun nugget from each game.

• Mets Stat of the Day, August 2021

Oct. 3: Braves 5, Mets 0 -- Shutout losses
New York's final loss on Sunday was a three-hit shutout at the hands of the Braves -- the Mets' ninth shutout defeat this season in which they recorded three hits or fewer. That was the most in the Majors, one more than the Indians.

Oct. 2: Braves 6, Mets 5 -- Lindor's 1,000th career hit
Francisco Lindor's eighth-inning triple was his 1,000th career hit. Lindor became the 40th Puerto Rican-born player in AL/NL history to reach the milestone.

Oct. 1: Mets 4, Braves 3 -- Nimmo's 3rd multi-homer game
Brandon Nimmo's multi-homer game on Friday was the third of his career and his first since 2018. More generally, Nimmo has enjoyed a power surge in recent weeks. Five of Nimmo's eight homers have come in his last 35 games, while all three of his triples have come in the past two weeks.

Sept. 30: Mets 12, Marlins 3 -- Alonso in select company
Pete Alonso bashed his 36th and 37th homers on Thursday, becoming one of five Mets with multiple seasons of at least that many. Darryl Strawberry (three such seasons), Mike Piazza, Dave Kingman and Carlos Delgado (two apiece) are the others.

Sept. 29: Marlins 3, Mets 2 -- Walker better from the left side
Early in August, Taijuan Walker switched from batting right-handed to left-handed in an effort to protect the left side of his core, which had forced him to the injured list in May. He wound up hitting .286 (4-for-14) lefty after batting .030 from his natural right-handed side of the plate.

Said Walker, who went 1-for-2 with a single: "I wish I would have started hitting lefty earlier in the year."

Sept. 28: Mets 5, Marlins 2 (Game 1); Mets 2, Marlins 1 (9) (Game 2) -- Stro shows off wheels
With his first career stolen base in Game 1, Marcus Stroman became the 15th pitcher in Mets history to swipe a bag. Jacob deGrom was the last to do it in 2017. Tom Seaver has the most, with four steals in his Mets career, followed by Orlando Hernandez with three in two seasons. There have been 21 stolen bases by a pitcher in franchise history.

Sept. 26: Brewers 8, Mets 4 -- Cookie tested again in the 1st
Carlos Carrasco allowed two earned runs in the first inning on Sunday, raising his first-inning ERA to 14.73 this season (18 earned runs in 11 innings). Opponents are batting .333 against him in the first inning, with three doubles and eight home runs -- including a two-run shot by Brewers shortstop Willy Adames in the series finale loss at Milwaukee.

Sept. 25: Brewers 2, Mets 1 -- Loup stingy in relief
Aaron Loup worked a scoreless sixth inning in the middle game of the series with Milwaukee, his 11th in a row without allowing an earned run. Overall, Loup has a 0.98 ERA after giving up just two runs in his last 48 appearances and only one run in 32 appearances since the All-Star break. He's vying to become the first pitcher in Mets history to finish a season with a sub-1.00 ERA in at least 20 innings of work.

Sept. 24: Brewers 5, Mets 1 -- Alonso's streak snapped
Pete Alonso went 0-for-4 with a strikeout, snapping his road hitting streak at 17 games. It was the longest such streak by a Met since David Wright hit safely in 20 consecutive road games in 2012. The overall franchise record belongs to Jose Reyes (24, '10).

Sept. 22: Red Sox 12, Mets 5 -- Walker's second-half struggle
National League All-Star pitcher Taijuan Walker held a 2.66 ERA at the break, but he has since pitched to a 7.74 mark. The discrepancy between Walker's second-half ERA and his overall ERA (4.57) this season is by far the largest in Mets history for a pitcher with at least 50 innings after the break. Second on the list was Pedro Astacio in 2002.

Sept. 21: Red Sox 6, Mets 3 -- Alonso leads MLB in road HRs
Pete Alonso's 34th home run on Tuesday was also his 24th on the road, which leads the Major Leagues. Alonso owns a 16-game road hitting streak with 14 extra-base hits over that stretch, and he's tied for fourth in the Majors with 58 road RBIs.

Sept. 19: Mets 3, Phillies 2 -- No. 30 for Díaz
Edwin Díaz recorded his 30th save, becoming the seventh pitcher in franchise history to save at least 30 games in a season. Jeurys Familia holds the franchise record with 51 saves in 2016, while John Franco has the most 30-plus-save seasons with five.

Sept. 18: Phillies 5, Mets 3 -- Split records
The loss dropped the Mets to 35-49 (.417) against teams with winning records. They've not surprisingly enjoyed far more success against sub-.500 teams, going 37-28 (.569) against them.

Sept. 17: Phillies 4, Mets 3 -- 5 more outs
With a scoreless sixth inning, Mets reliever Aaron Loup lowered his ERA to 1.03 over 52 2/3 innings. If he records five more outs without allowing an earned run, his ERA would dip below 1.00, giving Loup a chance to become the first pitcher in franchise history to finish a season by amassing that many innings with a sub-1.00 ERA. The current record is held by Dennis Musgraves, who posted a 0.56 ERA over only 16 innings in 1965.

Sept. 15: Cardinals 11, Mets 4 -- Megill, bro lose on same day
Both Tylor Megill of the Mets and Trevor Megill of the Cubs took losses in their respective games on Wednesday. They are the first set of big league brothers to lose on the same day since Jered and Jeff Weaver on April 17, 2007.

Sept. 14: Cardinals 7, Mets 6 (11 innings) -- Here for a long time
The Mets played their longest home game of the season, though that was hardly unusual given recent trends. The team has averaged three hours and 56 minutes per game on its current homestand, twice exceeding the four-hour mark. The 11-inning loss lasted four hours and 34 minutes, marking New York's longest game at Citi Field since Aug. 23, 2019.

Sept. 13: Cardinals 7, Mets 0 -- Age just a number
Monday's matchup of Rich Hill (41 years, 186 days old) and Adam Wainwright (40 years, 14 days) marked the first time a pair of quadragenarians faced each other in a Major League game since Bartolo Colón of the Mets took on R.A. Dickey of the Blue Jays on June 18, 2015. The oldest combined age for a game featuring a Mets starter was Tom Glavine (41 years, 173 days) against Philadelphia's Jamie Moyer (44 years, 300 days) in 2007, according to the Elias Sports Bureau.

Sept. 12: Mets 7, Yankees 6 -- Subway Series victory
The Mets won the Subway Series for the fourth time in its quarter-century history, taking four of six games from the Yankees this year. The Mets had previously won the regular-season Subway Series, which began in 1997, in 2004, '08 and '13.

Sept. 11: Yankees 8, Mets 7 -- 8 straight one-run losses
The Mets' 8-7 loss to the Yankees was their eighth consecutive defeat by a single run. It's the longest streak of consecutive one-run losses in franchise history. Only three AL/NL clubs in history have compiled a longer stretch of one-run losses.

Sept. 10: Mets 10, Yankees 3 -- Megill's rookie magic vs. Yanks
Tylor Megill struck out a career-high 10 batters in Friday's Subway Series win, matching Masato Yoshii (June 28, 1998) for the most by a Mets rookie against the Yankees. Megill also joined Steven Matz (2015) and Hisanori Takahashi (2010) as the only Mets rookie pitchers to beat the Yankees in a regular-season game.

Sept. 9: Marlins 3, Mets 2 -- Stroman's magic number
The Mets usually win when Marcus Stroman goes six innings. He did so in the finale vs. the Marlins, but the Mets were unable to hold a late 2-0 lead. They are now 11-5 when Stroman works six innings or more.

Sept. 8: Marlins 2, Mets 1 (10 innings) -- Mets vs. NL East foes
After this loss, the Mets have one more game in a run of 14 straight against National League East rivals. So far, they are 9-4 during this stretch. New York has won 11 of its past 15 against division opponents and is 34-31 against NL East teams this season.

Sept. 7: Mets 9, Marlins 4 -- MLB's road homer leader
Pete Alonso hit two homers, giving him 101 for his career. They also gave him a Major League-leading 23 road homers this season.

Sept. 6: Nationals 4, Mets 3 -- Pete brings the power
Pete Alonso's sixth-inning home run on Monday gave him his second 30-homer season and his 99th long ball in 346 career games. Alonso is looking to become the second-fastest player in American/National League history to reach 100 homers. Former Phillies first baseman Ryan Howard, who achieved the feat in 325 games, remains the fastest. Third on the list is Yankees catcher Gary Sánchez, who hit his 100th career home run in his 355th game.

Sept. 5: Mets 13, Nationals 6 -- Báez's big day
Javier Báez on Sunday became the first Mets player in 33 years to record at least four hits, a stolen base and a home run without making an out at the plate. The last Met to accomplish that stat line was Kevin McReynolds, who also went 4-for-4 with a homer and a steal on July 27, 1988. Two years earlier, Darryl Strawberry finished a game 5-for-5 with a homer and a steal.

Sept. 4: Mets 11, Nationals 9 (9 innings, Game 1) -- Villar records 7 straight hits
Infielder Jonathan Villar recorded seven consecutive hits over a nine-inning stretch from Friday night into Saturday afternoon. He fell one shy of matching Mets teammate Brandon Drury, who had a hit in eight straight at-bats earlier this season. The franchise record belongs to José Vizcaíno (1996) and John Olerud (1998), who both hit safely in nine straight at-bats.

Sept. 3: Mets 6, Nats 2 (10 innings) -- 4-hit game for Villar
Jonathan Villar matched his career high with four hits in Friday's win over the Nationals. It was the second four-hit game of his career, with the first coming in 2019. Over his last 10 games, Villar is hitting .459.

Sept. 2: Mets 4, Marlins 3 -- Two first-pitch leadoff home runs
Miguel Rojas and Jonathan Villar both hit first-pitch leadoff homers on Thursday, marking the first time in a game that both teams' leadoff men have hit first-pitch homers since the Major Leagues started tracking pitch counts in 1988.