Game Preview: Cardinals vs Mets

The Mets jumped out to an 8-1 lead last night and then the Cardinals started to slowly work their way back into the game. The last play of the game, with two outs, they hit the ball into moderately deep right field. Jeff McNeil went way back for it, Conforto dove for it but had to hold up to avoid a collision and the end result was they both missed the ball. The tying run turned third, McNeil hit the cut-off man who hit got the ball to home plate way before the runner and thanks to that base path running blunder, the Mets won 8-7. If they win today, they end up splitting with the Cardinals before they head off to playing NL East rivals.

Jason Vargas looks to get the Mets there today. He is 3-3 over 11 games and 10 starts with 51.1 innings of work posting a 3.68 ERA, 4.16 FIP, 1.364 WHIP and 110 ERA+. He was a bit more human in his last start, allowing 3 runs but he still pitched 6.0 innings meaning he’s done at 6.0 innings of work in his last three starts, a streak he has never had as a Met. Since April 19th he has started 8 games with a 2.20 ERA in those 45.0 innings of work. The Cardinals have the following numbers against him:

Matt Wieters 6-23, 2B, BB, 3 K
Yadier Molina 5-13, 2B, BB
Dexter Fowler 3-8, 3 2B, 3 BB, K
Matt Carpenter 6-7, 2B, BB
Paul Goldschmidt 2-9, HR
Paul DeJong 1-4, BB, 2 K
Jose Martinez 2-4, HR, BB, K
Kolten Wong 0-4

The Mets bats will get a look at Dakota Hudson today who has pitched in 14 games making 13 starts in 2019. He has logged 72.2 innings posting a 3.47 ERA, 4.82 FIP, 1.500 WHIP and 121 ERA+. He was in the pen all of last year and it he was struggling with the transition to the rotation in April, ending the month with a 5.62 ERA over 6 games. Since then he has really turned it on. In his last three games he has pitched 19.1 innings allowing only 3 runs from 13 hits and 9 walks leading to a 1.40 ERA. He faced the Mets earlier this season allowing 3 runs over 5.0 innings from 5 hits and 2 walks, the Mets have the following numbers against him: