Game Preview: Mets @ Red Sox

The Mets lost to the Red Sox last night and ticked even closer to being eliminated for the season. The Mets lost while the Braves won, dropping their elimination number down six, falling to 7.0 games out of first place. The Mets are only four losses away from guaranteeing a losing season as well.

On top of everything, last night was a come back win for the Red Sox. The Mets had the lead early and additional opportunities but they couldn’t hold the game together. They’ll look to rebound tonight behind Taijuan Walker.

Taijuan Walker has pitched in 28 games and 149.2 innings this year with a 4.27 ERA, 4.45 FIP, 1.169 WHIP and a 93 ERA+. He’s coming off of a start where he allowed two runs over 5.0 innings, in a game where he wanted go back out and pitch in the 6th inning. In his two starts before that, he allowed 11 runs over 10.1 innings. The Red Sox have the following numbers against Walker:

Kevin Plawecki 1-1, 2B, BB
Kyle Schwarber 3-8, 3 HR, BB, K
J.D. Martinez 6-11, 2B, HR, K
Jose Iglesias 3-7, 2B
Alex Verdugo 1-3, K
Xander Bogaerts 1-4,BB, K
Christian Vazquez 0-4, BB, K
Travis Shaw 0-2, K
Rafael Devers 0-3
Bobby Dalbec 0-2, K
Hunter Renfroe 0-5, 3 K

The Mets bats draw Chris Sale tonight. Sale returned to the mound not too long ago for the first time since 2019. Did you know Sale actually is the all-time career leader in K/W at 5.36? There’s a gold box around it on Baseball Reference. Anyway, so far this year, in six starts and 30.0 innings, Sale has a 2.40 ERA, 4.26 FIP, 1.233 WHIP and a 199 ERA+. Sale had a bumpy start back on the 6th, he allowed five runs, only one earned, over 3.2 innings against the Rays, which is why his WHIP is so high. He bounced back his last time out allowing one run over 5.0 innings from two hits against the Orioles. Sale has the following numbers against the Mets: