The Mets won their 50th game of the season yesterday taking the series Opener from the Cincinnati Reds. The end of the game was important for the Mets – Díaz wasn’t available last night as the Mets have used him a lot recently. Seth Lugo came on, allowed a hit and nothing else in the 9th inning to lock down the win.
Today is the day though that Mets fans have been waiting for – the return of Max Scherzer to the mound! Before landing on the injured list, Scherzer made eight starts and pitched 49 2/3 innings with a 2.54 ERA, 2.95 FIP, 0.946 WHIP and a 160 ERA+. Scherzer faced the Reds last year as both a National and a Dodger. With Washington he allowed two runs over seven innings from five hits while striking out nine. Then in September he allowed no runs from two hits over seven innings while striking out seven. The Reds have the following career numbers against Scherzer:
- Mike Moustakas 6-39, 2B, HR, BB, 12 K
- Joey Votto 5-20, 2 2B, HR, 5 BB, 7 K
- Tommy Pham 3-20, 2B, BB, 9 K
- Brandon Drury 1-8, BB, 3 K
- Jonathan India 1-5, BB, K
- Matt Reynolds 0-3, 2 K
For a second straight game the Mets bats will get their first look at a rookie starting pitcher for the Reds. Nick Lodolo will make his 4th major league start today. Over his first three starts he has allowed nine runs from 14 2 /3 innings (5.52 ERA) coming from 18 hits and five walks. He has also struck out 19 batters over this stretch and allowed three homers. Most of the damage was done over his first two starts where he allowed eight runs over nine innings. In his third major league start, back on April 24th, he held the Cardinals to one run over 5 2/3 innings.
After that start in late April, the Reds revealed that Nick was actually pitching injured with tightness on his side and he landed on the injured list. The Reds are using caution with their young pitcher who is one of their top pitchers in their system.
Let’s Go Mets!
