The Mets look to close out the first half the season this afternoon with something that has become a rarity: a three game winning streak. A win today will give them that plus a series win against the Nationals, which would be a nice cherry on top of a garbage two months or so. Yesterday Wheeler went deep into the game and the offense rewarded him thanks to a 3 run bomb from Conforto and two hit performances from Flores, Plawecki and even Reyes (which unfortunately probably guarantees him more playing time).
Corey Oswalt will take the mound for the Mets. He is 0-2 over 4 games and 3 starts with 17.1 innings of work leading to a 6.75 ERA, 5.73 FIP, 1.154 WHIP and 58 ERA+. In his last outing he allowed 3 runs off 1 hit in 6.0 innings. What that line buries is he was perfect through 5.0 innings, walked a couple of batters, including an intentional walk to get to the pitcher and that pitcher just got a good swing of the bat hitting a double that cleared all three base runners. He really did much better than the line suggests he did his last time out. This afternoon will be his first game against the Nationals.
Jeremy Hellickson starts for the Nationals. He is 3-1 over 12 games and 57.0 innings with a 3.47 ERA, 3.91 FIP, 1.088 WHIP and 121 ERA+. His worst start by far this season happened at the beginning of July where he allowed 9 runs, 8 earned to the Marlins over 4.0 innings bumping his ERA from 2.62 to 3.81. In his last start he allowed no runs over 5.0 innings. His 2018 season debut was against the Mets where he allowed 2 runs off 7 hits in 4.2 innings in Queens. The Mets have the following numbers against him:
- Bautista 12-35, 2B, 3B, 3 HR, 6 BB (1.125 OPS)
- Reyes 12-33, 3 2B, HR , BB (.928 OPS)
- Cabrera 11-26, 2 2B, HR, 2 BB (1.080 OPS)
- Conforto 2-7, 2 2B, 3 BB
- Nimmo 2-7, 2 B
- Flores 1-3, 2B
Let’s Go Mets!
