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Try it freeThe spotlight frequently found Juan Soto on Thursday, when the most storied offseason signing in franchise history went 0-for-3 with a walk in front of a fan base that has begun to murmur.
But those murmurs never graduated to full-fledged boos, perhaps in part because an under-the-radar winter signing has started to look like a steal.
Needing length and wanting excellence, the Mets received both from Griffin Canning in a homestand-opening 4-1 win over the Cardinals in front of 38,246 at Citi Field.
The Mets bullpen has been depleted all season and was breathing particularly hard after completing what amounted to a bullpen game a night prior.
No Mets starter had reached 100 pitches in an outing this year.
The group entered play having recorded the sixth-fewest innings among starting staffs in baseball.
Which made Canning’s six-inning, one-run, 102-pitch beauty all the sweeter as he halted the Mets’ two-game skid.
The righty, brought in on a one-year, $4.25 million pact this winter after five middling seasons with the Angels, has looked reborn in Queens.
Through four starts, a pitcher who projected as depth before Sean Manaea and Frankie Montas went down owns a 3.43 ERA.
Thursday, he limited the Cardinals — who entered play having scored the fifth-most runs in MLB — to three hits and two walks while striking out eight.
He allowed a run in the third inning, when a Victor Scott II single, steal and Brendan Donovan single narrowed the Mets’ lead to 4-1, but that would be all the damage on a night he got better as he went deeper.
He retired the final nine batters he faced, including striking out four straight in the fourth and fifth.
His four-seamer, slider and changeup combined for 16 whiffs as he has seemed to have found a pitch mix with which he can thrive.
Manager Carlos Mendoza pushed him, allowing him to pitch the sixth, and Canning responded.
His final batter, Alec Burleson, hit a chopper that forced Canning to leap, batting down the ball before the 2020 Gold Glove winner flipped to first base and jogged off the field to loud cheers.
There were plenty of cheers on a night Mark Vientos drilled his first home run of the season to give the Mets a lead in what became a four-run second inning.
In the frame, Brett Baty dropped an RBI single into left to drive in Starling Marte.
Francisco Lindor’s bat drove in one and his feet another.
His two-run single counted for one RBI.
Baty scored from second base, and Lindor got caught between first and second base, but lasted long enough in a pickle to score Tyrone Taylor, too.
Reed Garrett, A.J. Minter and Edwin Diaz (fourth save) finished off a three-hitter that could have been defined by a mixed reaction to every at-bat from Soto, whose relatively slow start and recent lineup-protection comments have added some scrutiny.
Instead, Canning grabbed the spotlight.