Game Preview: Nationals vs Mets

Yesterday was pretty much the opposite of Friday night and now the Mets have a rubber game before another week with multiple off-days.

The game yesterday got off to an ominous start as the first batter of the game hit a ball, not well, towards Conforto. It took a short hop towards Conforto and then somehow got beyond him, turning a soft-single into a triple, which then scored on a flyout to the next batter. From there the game started to fall apart as Stroman, who should have had an easy first inning, started to fall apart and then Tarpley, fresh off his call up, allowed multiple runners and runs without an out getting the infamous infinity ERA. This was coupled by silent Mets bats outside of a two hit day by Pete Alonso and Conforto’s first homer of the season led to a long afternoon.

So it’s up to Taijuan Walker to get the Mets back in the win column and prevent the Mets from falling below .500. In three starts and 14.0 innings this year he has a 3.21 ERA, 2.74 FIP, 1.429 WHIP and a 122 ERA+. He’s coming off of a confusing start in Chicago where he only pitched 3.2 innings, allowed 3 runs, 2 earned. In that start he allowed 2 hits but walked 6 (while striking out 7). Some of the problems he created on the mound, but there were throwing errors behind him and he got squeezed by the umpire multiple times. In the inning where everything fell apart, he walked a batter on 4 pitches but at least 2 of them were very clearly in the strike zone. After he got pulled from the game, he got ejected for giving the umpire his opinion of the game thus far. The Nationals have the following numbers against Walker:

Kyle Schwarber 1-2, HR, BB
Alex Avila 4-7, 2 HR, 4 BB
Trea Turner 1-2, 2B, BB
Josh Bell 1-2, 2B, BB
Josh Harrison 1-3, 2B
Ryan Zimmerman 1-3, 2B, K
Yan Gomes 2-5, K
Jordy Mercer 0-1, 2 BB
Starlin Castro 0-3, K

The Mets draw lefty Patrick Corbin for the series ender. In 12.1 innings this year, Patrick has a 10.95 ERA, 7.72 FIP, 1.865 WHIP and 37 ERA+. He’s coming off a great start though, where he held the Cardinals scoreless over 6.0 innings and only allowed 4 hits while walking none. This lowered his ERA from 21.32 to 10.95 (he really had two rough starts to start off 2021). In three starts against the Mets last year he allowed 8 runs, 7 earned over 18.2 innings (3.38 ERA) from 23 hits, 6 walks and 15 strikeouts. The Mets have the following numbers against him: