Double Header Game 2 Preview: Phillies vs Mets

Hope you are ready to double dip Mets baseball today! In today’s second game we get a surprise – a Marcus Stroman start!

Let’s rewind a bit. On Sunday Marcus was supposed to pitch the series finale against the Marlins. For some reason, despite the rain and the radar showing that it would rain throughout the day, the Mets started the game, thinking that the rain would stay light throughout the day. It was pretty obvious from the start that this was a mistake. The first hitter got a hit. The second hitter hit a foul ball that Conforto caught despite having to fight the rain in his face. At that point Stroman’s body language changed – it was clear it was too wet to grip the ball and he saw his teammates literally standing in puddles forming all over the infield. He “delayed” the game enough to get the umpires to call a real delay and finally call the game many hours later.

Initially it looked like we wouldn’t see Stroman again until Friday at the earliest – Luis Rojas was against using Stroman earlier. Stroman got in extra work yesterday at the ballpark and let the team know he could go today, so we get a Stroman start after all! Marcus had a great start out his first time out, allowing 1 run over 6.0 innings from 3 hits, and 2 walks while striking out 3. His two starts against the Phillies in 2019 weren’t great, he allowed 7 runs, 6 earned, from 17 hits over 10.0 innings while striking out 12 batters. The Phillies have the following numbers against Stroman:

Andrew McCutchen 1-2, 2B
Matt Joyce 4-12, 2B, HR, 5 BB, 3 K
Adam Haseley 2-5, 2B, BB
J.T. Realmuto 4-8, BB, K
Didi Gregorius 9-34, 2 2B, 3B, HR, 2 BB, 2 K
Brad Miller 7-34, 2B, 3B, HR, 4 BB, 11 K
Jean Segura 5-16, 3 K
Rhys Hoskins 1-6, 2 K
Alec Bohm 0-3
Bryce Harper 0-6, 2 K

The Mets bats will get their second look at Phillies ace Aaron Nola today who in has allowed 3 runs from 12 hits and 2 walks over 10.2 innings while striking out 11 batters this year. The Mets scored 1 run over 4.0 innings from 6 hits and 2 walks against him last week. The Mets strategy against Nola almost worked – they got his pitch count up early and made him make an early exit. But the Phillies bullpen was excellent and locked the Mets down. The Mets have the following numbers against Nola: