Have yourself a birthday, Griffin Canning.
The righty took the ball on his birthday Sunday afternoon and he put together another stellar outing — allowing just one run on two hits while walking one and striking out five in six innings.
Canning opened the game perfectly — setting down each of the first six batters he faced, including striking out the side in the top of the first for just the second time in his big-league career.
He ran into trouble in the third as the first two batters reached on a single and a walk, but bared down nicely and was able to escape without any damage, picking up a big punch out of Pete Crow-Armstrong.
The right-hander continued cruising from there, pushing his streak to 10 batters in a row before Crow-Armstrong stuck with one out in the top of the sixth, crushing a game-tying solo homer into the Coca Cola Corner.
Canning retired the next two batters to end his day strong. While he saw his five-start winning streak come to an end, he once again delivered the Mets the type of performance they were looking for.
“He was solid,” manager Carlos Mendoza said. “He had everything going today. It starts with the fastball, especially at the top to get the swing-and-misses, and then we know how good the slider and the changeup can be.
“All three pitches today, I thought he was in complete control of the game. He used them effectively, mixed, attacked — he got ahead and then just used them to put hitters away. It was a really solid outing there.”
Canning, a former second-round pick, has shown spurts of potential throughout his big-league career but he has never quite been able to put it all together.
He ended up being designated for assignment by the Los Angeles Angels after pitching to a 5.39 ERA last season — and was picked up by the Atlanta Braves but was non-tendered after he couldn’t crack the big leagues.
Still, the Mets decided to take a chance on him this winter and after making some tweaks to his pitch usage, he’s delivering some of the best baseball of his career.
Canning has a tremendous 2.36 ERA through seven starts this season.
“The change of scenery has been good,” he said. “I fit in well with these guys over here. It’s always fun just going out there and trying to win and playing for the team. Everyone on and off the field have been really helpful.”
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