NEW YORK -- It was subtle, perhaps even imperceptible to the untrained eye. But as
That mission began with a strikeout of Jesse Winker, [a newborn villain in Flushing](https://www.mlb.com/cut4/mets-fans-wave-at-jesse-winker-after-ejection) who was later ejected for arguing balls and strikes. It ended with Syndergaard’s hardest pitch of the day: a 99.5 mph fastball to freeze Yasiel Puig. In between, he mixed together five pitch types in delivering one of the most dominant outings of his career. Syndergaard struck out 10, walked just one and allowed four hits.
\n\nHe also received close to zero offensive support from his teammates, which might have mattered if not for Syndergaard’s other accomplishment. Facing Reds starter Tyler Mahle to lead off the third, he crushed his sixth career homer to the opposite field, matching Tom Seaver for second place on the franchise list for pitchers and moving within one of record-holder Dwight Gooden. Mets starters have hit four home runs this season, tying the franchise record with 131 games yet to play.\n\n“It wasn’t a very competitive pitch, and he made me pay for it,” Mahle said.
\n\n \n\nSyndergaard needed no further inspiration than that. From the third through ninth innings, he retired 17 of 18 batters, erasing the only man to reach base on a double play. When he struck out Puig to end things, Syndergaard became the first pitcher to toss a 1-0 shutout via his own home run since the Dodgers’ Bob Welch in 1983. Only five others have done it, none since 1971.\n\n“It’s got to be one of the rarest things in baseball,” Callaway said.\n\nIndeed, it is more than three times rarer than a perfect game -- in the context of baseball history, a fun statistical nugget. In the context of the Mets’ season, it was heaven-sent. The Mets entered Thursday’s play trying to salvage a series split without their closer,
\n\nNearly as alarming was the status of the rotation, which until recently had not lived up to its billing as one of baseball’s best. All five Mets starters struggled at various points in April, in a pattern that began changing only last week. Wednesday, reigning National League Cy Young Award winner