Jason Vargas hadn’t pitched in nearly three weeks, and fans were fed up with him before the game’s first at-bat was through.
Vargas threw his first pitch wide. His second, too. The third was deemed low. When the oft-injured, oft-struggling southpaw finally fired a strike, the Saturday afternoon crowd at Citi Field responded with sarcastic cheers.
Whenever Vargas takes the mound in Queens, the 36-year-old brings the baggage of his disappointing stint with him, but when the veteran exited the Mets’ 5-4 13-inning win over the Tigers, there was little more the crowd could have asked of him.
Starting for the first time since exiting a May 5 outing with a hamstring injury, Vargas returned from the injured list to throw five innings of one-run ball, and left with the lead, before settling for a no-decision. Vargas (1-2) lowered his ERA to 5.22, allowing five hits and three walks, while striking out three.
“He was great. Exactly what you want Vargas to do,” manager Mickey Callaway said. “He was tremendous. That’s what we need from Vargas.
That’s who he is, and it’d be great for him to keep on doing what he’s been doing essentially all year, except for maybe one outing.”
Vargas entered with a 5.92 ERA and 1.56 WHIP in his seven previous starts this season, but has now allowed one earned run in four of his past five starts. He still hasn’t thrown more than 5 ¹/₃ innings in a start this season, and was limited to 81 pitches in his first start back from injury.
“I don’t ever really feel like I was out of stride in any regard, just some unfortunate things that went down in a couple consecutive outings,” Vargas said. “As far as how I felt since I got here in the spring has been pretty consistent. It’s just nice to be back and contributing.”
Vargas opened the game by allowing singles to the first two hitters he faced, but only allowed one run in the opening from — on a sacrifice fly by Nicholas Castellanos — before forcing Miguel Cabrera to hit into an inning-ending double play.
The 36-year-old allowed multiple runners to reach base in four of his five innings, but managed to continually escape danger. Over his past five starts, Vargas has held opponents to a .143 batting average (3-for-21) with runners in scoring position.
“I felt like it went pretty well,” Vargas said. “It was nice to just keep us in the ballgame, and let them do the work.”
