KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Noah Syndergaard was ready for the boos he received Tuesday, but the Royals’ choice in music as he warmed up for the first inning caught his attention.
As the long-haired, 6-foot-6 Hercules took the mound, “American Woman” blared through Kauffman Stadium.
“They got me on that one,” the Mets righty said after his six dominant innings led a 2-0 victory over the Royals for a series split. “I think it helped me a little bit more because it relaxed me.”
A relaxed Syndergaard unleashed his slider, using it as his strikeout pitch of choice, consistently throwing it in the low 90s to give the Royals fits.
In seven matchups against the Royals since last October, the Mets have won twice and Syndergaard claimed both victories. His gem Tuesday — six shutout innings in which he allowed only four base runners — was the more dominant of the two performances, on a day the Mets’ offensive attack consisted of Neil Walker’s two-run homer against Chris Young in the fourth.
Syndergaard’s slider — a pitch he used sparingly last season — caught everybody’s attention.
“It’s unlike anything I’ve ever seen before,” Walker said. “You almost feel a little empathy for a guy who has to try to hit that.”
Syndergaard’s final act was striking out Kendrys Morales on three straight violent sliders with the bases loaded and two outs in the sixth.
“I think I kind of shocked myself there with how good my slider was,” Syndergaard said. “It felt good in spring training, but I amped it up to another level today.”
Ideally, the Mets would have received an additional inning from Syndergaard, but there couldn’t be much quibbling with the nine-strikeout performance, which looked even better after the bullpen pitched three perfect innings.
Jim Henderson, in his return to the major leagues after missing 1 ¹/₂ seasons following a second shoulder surgery, pitched a perfect seventh before Addison Reed and Jeurys Familia added a scoreless frame apiece.
In his start against the Royals in Game 3 of last year’s World Series, Syndergaard got the victory after allowing three runs over six innings.
Syndergaard’s unpopularity among Royals fans stems largely from his buzz pitch to Alcides Escobar leading off last year’s Game 3 and the pitcher’s subsequent comments, in which he challenged anybody who had a problem with it to meet him “60 feet, 6 inches away.”
Last week there had been rumblings the Royals might attempt retaliation for buzzing Escobar, who was knocked down on that pitch that sailed to the backstop, but nothing materialized.
As for the boos, Syndergaard seemed amused.
“I thought it was funny,” he said.
In a pregame ceremony, the Royals received their world championship rings, leaving the Mets to endure a celebration for a second straight day, though few players watched this one. On Sunday, the Royals raised their first world championship banner in 30 years as the Mets watched during pregame introductions.
Escobar gave the Royals an early threat by hitting a 99-mph Syndergaard fastball for a triple leading off, but was left stranded at third base as the next three batters whiffed, including Eric Hosmer, who stared at a slider for strike three and the third out.
“The difference in everything [Syndergaard] throws is he has confidence in the pitch when he needs to make it, instead of just relying on the fastball,” manager Terry Collins said. “That is what has made him so effective from the end of last year to now.”
After having a rough game Sunday, when he struck out with the tying run at third base and one out in the ninth inning, David Wright reached three times and stole two bases. Wright had not stolen multiple bases in a game since June 25, 2013.
“It’s a tough environment, tough team and to come out and get that pitching performance we got today, not just from Noah, but those bullpen guys came out and it just seemed like three up, three down every inning,” Wright said. “That’s lights out and big for us.”