NEW YORK -- Mets starter Christian Scott entered Saturday’s game against the Marlins having thrown 1,250 pitches across 15 total starts between 2024 and 2026 in his Major League career, each without earning a victory in the big leagues. These totals aren’t eye-popping, but after having his debut campaign cut short by Tommy John surgery on his right arm, every pitch moment between him and win No. 1 started to feel a little longer.
After 96 pitches at Citi Field on Saturday, Scott was finally able to check off a few more boxes in the Majors.
Scott earned the first win of his career in the Mets’ 6-1 win against the Marlins. He tossed five innings of one-run ball, notching eight strikeouts while scattering five hits and two walks. The Mets broke through against Miami starter Tyler Phillips in the fourth frame, with a two-run double from Mark Vientos and an RBI single by Marcus Semien powering the three-run spurt.
Scott turned towards a two-pitch arsenal against Miami, leaning almost exclusively on his fastball (39 pitches) and sweeper (36 pitches) while shelving his cutter (seven pitches) -- which he entered throwing 20% of the time. The result was producing 11 whiffs on the way to eight strikeouts, tying a career high that he most recently reached on May 1 against the Angels.
The right-hander, who not long ago was a prized jewel among the prospect group of Nolan McLean and Jonah Tong, received a fair bit of help from the Mets’ other exciting youngsters. In the fourth inning, right fielder Carson Benge raced back to track down Kyle Stowers’ deep fly ball in the right-center-field gap, making a leaping grab and colliding face-first with the wall. After the Marlins responded with one run in the fifth inning, Otto Lopez laced another line drive to the right-center gap with a runner on first. Center fielder A.J. Ewing got a great jump and reached a sprint speed of 28.6 feet/second, robbing Lopez to end Miami’s threat.
A trio of other firsts helped the Mets win their third consecutive game. Cionel Pérez, whose contract was selected from Triple-A Syracuse on Saturday morning, tossed a scoreless sixth inning to provide reinforcements to a beleaguered New York bullpen. Designated hitter Jared Young followed Pérez’s shutdown inning with a leadoff homer, his first of the season. And Hayden Senger, Scott’s batterymate on the day, hit his first career home run off of reliever Lake Bachar in the seventh.