Game Preview: Mets @ Phillies

It finally happened! The Mets won a ball game! Last night the Mets and Phillies were locked in a pitching duel with the each team allowing 1 run through the first 7 innings. Then the floodgates opened. The Mets scored 10 runs across the 8th and 9th inning and the Phillies staged a mini comeback in the 9th scoring 4 runs, but ultimately fell 11-5. Both Alonso and Conforto hand 3 hit nights while Panik and Frazier had a two hits each. Frazier, who has been slumping for the better portion of the summer, had two homers and knocked in 6 runs. Ramos also extended his hitting streak! Even Edwin Diaz had a clean inning of work!

So the Mets look to get back at this afternoon behind Steven Matz who is fighting a blister on his finger. He is 8-8 over 26 games and 24 starts totaling 128.1 innings with a 4.06 ERA, 4.52 FIP, 1.298 WHIP and 101 ERA+. Over his last four starts he has pitched 25.0 innings allowing 6 runs, 5 earned, which is a 1.80 ERA. This will be his 5th game against the Phillies and so far this year he has allowed 16 runs, 14 earned in 11.0 innings against them, so he’ll be looking to regress his stats closer to mean today. The Phillies have the following batting lines against Matz:

Bryce Harper 7-23, 4 2B, 3 BB, 5 K
Rhys Hoskins 3-17, 3 HR, 2 BB, K
Cesar Hernandez 7-15, 2B, 5 BB, 2 K
J.T. Realmuto 5-16, 2B, 2 BB, 3 K
Scott Kingery 5-11, 2 HR, K
Jay Bruce 0-5, 2 BB, K

The Mets get to make their first start against Jason Vargas tonight. As a Met he posted a 4.01 ERA over 94.1 innings with a 4.70 FIP, 1.272 WHIP and 103 ERA+. In 5 starts as a Phillie he has allowed 14 runs over 29.0 innings, which is a 4.34 ERA, 4.76 FIP, 1.276 WHIP and 106 ERA+. So averaging all his starts for both teams together, essentially the same pitcher (which ignores his strong stretch of starts as Met for a period of time this year). He is coming off a rough start against the Pirates who tagged him for 4 runs over 6.0 innings. As a member of the Phillies he has allowed either 4 runs per start or 2 runs per start. The Mets have the following batting lines against him: