The Mets will look to build off last night’s walk-off as they welcome the Nationals to town to finish off the first half of the season. Jacob deGrom was amazing last night, as per usual, and the Mets didn’t score for him at all, as per usual. In the 10th inning, with two men on and two outs Brandon Nimmo smacked a homer to send everyone into the night happy (just like him normally). Jacob deGrom built on what should be a case to start the All-Star game, if the Mets couldn’t help him with runs last night, they could be scoring off his main competition Max Scherzer tonight.
For the Mets, it falls to Steven Matz. Matz is 4-6 over 17 games and 89.2 innings with a 3.31 ERA, 4.65 FIP, 1.227 WHIP and 116 ERA+. In July he has allowed 2 runs, 1 earned over 11.1 innings from 8 hits and 5 walks while striking out 11, which equates to an ERA of 0.77. In his first start against the Nationals this year, he held them to 1 unearned run over 5.0 innings. In his second start, he allowed 3 runs off 3 hits in 4.0 innings. The Nationals have the following numbers against Matz:
- Taylor 3-14, HR, 2 BB, 6 K
- Harper 2-12, 2 BB
- Rendon 3-14, HR
- Turner 2-12, 2B
- Murphy 3-9, 2B, HR
- Mark Reynolds 4-8, 3 2B
- Wieters 1-6, HR
- Difo 1-3
- Matt Reynolds 0-1, K
Max Scherzer is having an excellent year and is rivaling deGrom in being the best pitcher this season. He is 11-5 with 127.2 innings of work (league leading), 2.33 ERA, 2.60 FIP, 0.893 WHIP (league leading) and 180 ERA+. He also leads the league in strikeouts with 177, if that holds, he will lead the league in strikeouts for 3 years in a row. He has been more human in July allowing 7 runs over 13.0 innings from 11 hits, 5 walks and 12 K’s including 3 homers leading to an ERA of 4.85 (this is also why deGrom is leading in ERA and FIP right now). Amazingly, Max has put up these numbers without facing the pitiful Mets offense yet. Last year in 4 games against the Mets he was 3-1 over 28.0 innings allowe 10 runs (3.21 ERA) from 21 hits and 5 walks. The Mets have the following numbers against him:
- Cabrera 14-61, 4 2B, HR, 3 BB, 18 K
- Reyes 10-29, 2B, HR, BB
- Bautista 9-20, 4 2B, HR, 3 BB
- Conforto 6-18, 3 HR, 2 BB, 7 K
- Flores 0-14, BB, 8 K
- Plawecki 2-12
- Nimmo 2-8, HR
Let’s Go Mets!
