The Mets wild weekend continues! The Mets entered play yesterday 4.0 games behind the Braves for the division lead. The Mets took a 9 run lead in the first game, allowed the Nationals to score 9 unanswered runs and the Mets snatched the lead back in extra innings from a Lindor homer. The Mets lost the second game of the set by a close 4-3 score.
But the Mets got some help! The Marlins beat the Phillies for a second straight day and the Braves lost to the Rockies! The Mets, sitting at .500, are now only 3.5 games out of first place.
Taijuan Walker looks to keep the momentum going today. In 25 games (24 starts), Walker has pitched 134.1 innings with a 3.89 ERA, 4.19 FIP, 1.161 WHIP and a 102 ERA+. He’s looked better in his last couple of starts including one against the Giants where he allowed three runs, two earned, over 6.0 innings in a game the Mets eventually lost 3-2. Walker has had two very different starts against the Nationals this season. On April 25th he held the Nationals scoreless over 7.0 innings, limiting them to three hits and three walks. On June 20th, the Nationals scored four runs on Walker from 10 hits and and no walks in 6.1 innings. The current Nationals team have the following numbers against Walker:
- Alex Avila 4-7, 2 HR, 4 BB
- Yadiel Hernandez, 1-1, 2 BB
- Gerardo Parra 3-7, 2 2B, 3B, K
- Alcides Escobar 3-7, 2 2B
- Ryan Zimmerman 1-3, 2B, K
- Juan Soto 1-3, 2B
- Josh Bell 2-8, 2B, BB
- Keibert Ruiz 1-3
Going into the season, Josiah Gray was one of the top (if not the top) prospect in the Dodgers farm system. ESPN ranked him the #36 prospect overall in baseball before the season started. The Nationals acquired Gray in a massive, blockbuster trade that sent Max Scherzer and Trea Turner out west. Keibert Ruiz, who the Mets have already seen this month was also part of that trade.
Gray will make his first of many starts against the Mets today. He’s pitched in eight games, seven starts, this season between the Dodgers and the Nationals totaling 40.0 innings with a 4.73 ERA, 6.36 FIP, 1.325 WHIP and an 86 ERA+. He’s coming off of his worst start of the season against the Phillies, where he allowed six runs from seven hits in 4.0 innings of work (raising his ERA from 3.75 to 4.73). Before that start he had a stretch of five starts with the Nationals where he posted an ERA of 2.89 over 28.0 innings. No one on the Mets roster has seen Gray in a major league game before.
Let’s Go Mets!
