The Mets welcome the Marlins to town for the first time this year after taking two of three from the Braves. The Marlins are coming up 95 from DC where they just beat the Nationals for their first win of the season in extra innings.
The real story of this game is Zack Wheeler. Wheeler last pitched in a major league game in 2014. That year he went 11-11 over 32 games and 185.1 innings with a 3.54 ERA. In March of 2015 he required Tommy John and was slated for a May/June 2016 return. Instead Wheeler encountered multiple set backs delaying his return to tonight. In spring his ERA was high, but that’s not the important part of Spring. His fastball had life and he was hitting 97. Ultimately the debate boiled down to allowing Zack to stay down in Florida, pitch more to get his feet back under him or send him north so he wouldn’t waste innings not in games. The Mets hand was forced with the Matz injury (and later the Lugo injury) and Wheeler is here!
Wheeler was 2-0 over 5 games and 32.1 innings against the Marlins in 2014 with a 1.11 ERA, 13 BB’s and 39 K’s. The Marlins have the following numbers against Wheeler:
- Stanton 2-15, HR
- Hechavarria 2-16, 2B
- Yelich 1-13
- Ozuna 2-13, 3B
- Dietrich 1-4
- Moore 0-6
- Bour 0-1
The Mets draw Wei-Yin Chen who make his 2016 debut as he starts his second campaign with the Miami Marlins. He was 5-5 over 22 starts and 123.1 innings for the fish last year. Chen picked up a win in his only game against the Mets last year holding the Mets to 1 run and 3 hits over 7.0 innings while walking 1 and striking out 5. The Mets have the following numbers against Chen:
- Cabrera 2-19, HR
- Granderson 3-17, 2 HR, 8 K
- Cespedes 5-16, HR
- Reyes 4-12, 2B
- Rene Rivera 2-8, 2B
- Walker 1-4, 2B
- Flores 0-3
Let’s Go Mets!
