Noah Syndergaard not up to his standards for Mets

Being Noah Syndergaard comes with certain expectations: fast fastballs, long outings, lots of strikeouts.

The early goings of 2018 haven’t yielded all of those — his velocity is down and he hasn’t pitched past six innings, though the strikeouts have been many — and yet Syndergaard’s bottom-line production has been strong: 3.29 ERA, 1.06 WHIP, 7.8 strikeouts per walk.

On Friday night against the Braves, in a game that underscored those great expectations (and went into the 12th inning with the score tied at 3-3), Syndergaard was OK. He allowed three runs and seven hits in six innings, striking out six and walking none.

The defense didn’t help. In the fourth, Jay Bruce started in before a line drive flew over his head. It went as a two-out RBI double for Ryan Flaherty. In the sixth, Yoenis Cespedes nearly threw out Nick Markakis at second on his double, but Asdrubal Cabrera couldn’t nab the throw on a short hop. A wild pitch and sacrifice fly later, the score was tied.

Ozzie Albies homered in the first for the Braves’ other run.

For most starting pitchers, that effort would be a pretty good one. Syndergaard is not most pitchers.

Had Steven Matz produced that line Wednesday, there would have been no reason for Mickey Callaway to pinch hit for him early. Had Matt Harvey done so Thursday, it would have minimized the questions about his tenuous hold on a rotation spot. If Zack Wheeler were to mirror it Sunday, it would be a third quality start in as many tries this season.

But with Syndergaard, the official standards for a quality start — at least six innings, three or fewer earned runs — don’t quite seem to be enough. He has two quality starts in five outings this season (and the Mets won his first four starts), but there has been a sense after each that the best is yet to come.

Length has been the biggest question. He has averaged about 5 1⁄2 innings per start and hasn’t been on the mound in the seventh for any. Last April, before an injury cost him most of the season, Syndergaard pitched at least six innings in all four starts and went seven twice.

On Friday night, Tomas Nido caught Syndergaard for a second consecutive start because Kevin Plawecki (Syndergaard’s batterymate his first three games) was hurt. Syndergaard praised Nido their last time together, and Callaway chose to pair them again.

“I like the combination a little bit,” Callaway said. “Nido can throw the ball well. Obviously Syndergaard, as big as he is, is a little longer [time-wise] to home. I thought they had a pretty good success last outing. That’s why we decided to go that route.”

Nido threw out Flaherty and Albies trying to steal second in the seventh and eighth innings, respectively, albeit with Seth Lugo pitching, not Syndergaard. Both runners reached on leadoff walks. Mets catchers had been 0-for-21 on the season in trying to stop base-stealers.

Syndergaard was staked to a two-run lead. With the Mets trailing 1-0, Nido led off the third with a single and scored on Amed Rosario’s double. Rosario advanced to third on the throw and scored on Michael Conforto’s sacrifice fly to make it 2-1.

The Mets made it 3-1 in the fourth when Todd Frazier walked, stole second and scored on Wilmer Flores’ single.