While Steven Matz has put together a nice career, based on his first two starts, he looks like he would’ve been the best of the bunch. Jacob deGrom and Zack Wheeler, clearly the two best pitchers in this batch (thus far), looked far more pedestrian in their first two starts than their careers would indicate now.

The Mets beat up on left-hander Joey Wentz (4-4), scoring six earned runs in only 3 1/3 innings, and continuing the onslaught against right-hander Erick Fedde, with three off of the right-hander. A 20-hit night for the Mets, every hitter in the starting lineup got a hit, including backup catcher Hayden Senger, just the ninth of his career.

Nolan McLean’s impressive big league debut served as a reminder of how the Mets began climbing from the edge of disaster to the playoffs almost exactly nine years ago.