NEW YORK _ Dave Eiland had a stock answer when people outside the Mets organization questioned him about the so-so season starts by Jacob deGrom and Noah Syndergaard.
"Stayed tuned," responded the Mets' pitching coach.
The wait may have been worth it. After deGrom threw seven scoreless innings the night before, in a game the Mets lost, 1-0, his stable mate Syndergaard outdid him Thursday afternoon in a 1-0 victory over Cincinnati that gave the Mets a split of their four-game series with the Reds.
Not only did he pitch a complete game four-hit shutout and strike out 10, he also homered, making him the first pitcher since Bob Welch, when he with the Dodgers in 1983, to produce a complete game shutout and homer for the only run.
"That's rarer than a perfect game," said Mets manager Mickey Callaway, a pitcher in his playing days.
There was a lot to be thankful for. Not only did Syndergaard receive a needed confidence boost, Callaway was thankful he didn't have to go to his overworked bullpen.
"The lack of relief was a relief today," said Callaway, with a chuckle.
Just the way Syndergaard planned. After a 1-3 start, that included a 6.35 earned run average, he knew he had to turn around his season.
As he said afterward, "I felt like I was pretty close to rock bottom."
On this day, he was on top of his game. He looked like the Cy Young Award winner deGrom was last season. In his 104-pitch performance, he walked only one, allowed two hits past the second inning, and never allowed a Reds runner to reach second base.
Everything was working. His 98 mph four-seam fast ball, his 97 mph slider, his 90 mph change-up, and his 78 mph curve.
You got the impression that Cincinnati lead-off hitter Jesse Winker and manager David Bell were as frustrated by Syndergaard as they were about his strike zone before home plate umpire Marty Foster threw both of them out as Winker was leading off the ninth inning.
Catcher Wilson Ramos was literally sitting in a rocking chair. "He shook me off two or three times all game," Ramos said. "That's not bad."
Neither was Syndergaard's swing at the plate, when he drove Tyler Mahle's first pitch of the third inning into the left center field stands.
Just as he's done in the pre-game batting practices Callaway has observed of late.
"I got that one pretty good," Syndergaard said. "You can say I'm no fan of the (designated hitter)."
After that, it was a question of whether Syndergaard could finish off his third career complete game and second shutout (he blanked Miami last Sept. 30).
Syndergaard did his part by finishing off hitters, relying on a change in his mechanics that he and Eiland had worked on, and Callaway did his part by letting Thor bat in the bottom of the eighth, much to the approval of the crowd of 21,445.
Callaway said his pitcher earned the right to pitch the ninth and he would have gone to reliever Robert Gsellman if the Reds tied the score or Syndergaard reached 112 pitches or more.
On this day, that never happened.
Syndergaard's homer was his second of the season, enabling the pitching staff to tie the franchise record of four in a season. Zack Wheeler and deGrom also went deep.
The homer was Syndergaard's sixth in his career. That ties him with Tom Seaver for second on the franchise's all-time list. Dwight Gooden has the most homers (8).
