Noah Syndergaard and the New York Mets wanted to send a strong message to the Kansas City Royals on the very first pitch of World Series Game 3. With a high-90s fastball up and in to Alcides Escobar, the 23-year-old pitcher jolted the Citi Field crowd and seemed to tell the Royals: “We aren’t done yet.”

With a raucous home crowd behind them, New York beat Kansas City 9-3 on Friday night and cut the series deficit to 2-1.

In Game 3, the Mets had a much-needed offensive outburst after scoring just one run on Wednesday in Game 2. Veterans David Wright and Curtis Granderson led the charge at the plate, each hitting a two-run home run to give the Mets the lead. Granderson’s third-inning homer gave New York a lead that they would not relinquish.

Despite giving up a run in the first inning and two runs in the second, Syndergaard battled through six innings, giving up a total of seven hits and three runs.

The top of the sixth proved to be the turning point in the game for the pitcher. After throwing more than 100 pitches, Syndergaard was holding onto a two-run lead with the bases loaded. He got Royals outfielder Alex Rios to ground out to shortstop to end the inning.

The Mets scored once in the fourth and broke the game open in the bottom of sixth, scoring four runs and giving New York that six-run lead.

New York went with the combination of Addison Reed, Tyler Clippard and Jeurys Familia, who each threw scoreless innings in the seventh, eighth and ninth innings to close it out.

Mets Rookie Steven Matz will face off against Kansas City’s Chris Young, who pitched three innings in the Royals’ Game 1 win, on Saturday night.

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