The Mets look to close out the weekend with a win and a sweep this afternoon at Citi Field! Yesterday the Mets rolled through the Marlins thanks to an excellent start from Kodai Senga and Pete Alonso’s fourth homer in three games.
This afternoon though all eyes are on Francisco Álvarez as the Mets top prospect gets his first start in 2023. Lets break down today’s matchup!
Carlos Carrasco looks to bounce back for a disastrous first game of the season where he allowed five runs from four hits in four innings against the Brewers. Carrasco allowed a home run, a calling card that he’s in trouble, and his velocity vanished about midway through the start. The whole game made for a disturbing start of the series for the Mets. Hopefully the Mets get a more familiar version of Carrasco this afternoon. Carrasco faced the Marlins five times last season allowing 10 runs from 29 hits and seven walks in 28 2/3 innings (3.14 ERA) while striking out 27 batters. The Marlins have the following career numbers against him:
- Avisaíl García 12-45, 2B, HR, BB, 13 K
- Jean Segura 7-18, 2B, 3 HR, 3 K
- Bryan De La Cruz 4-16, 2B, HR, 5 K
- Yuli Gurriel 5-15, 2 2B, 3 K
- Jon Berti 3-12, 2 2B, 2 K
- Jazz Chisholm Jr. 2-11, 2B, BB, 4 K
- Jacob Stallings 1-11, 3 K
- Garrett Cooper 4-10, 2B, BB, 3 K
- Jesús Sánchez 1-10, BB, 3 K
- Jorge Soler 1-7, 2 BB, 4 K
- Nick Fortes 3-5, K
- Luis Arraez 0-5, 2 K
Braxton Garrett will make his first start of the season today. So far he has pitched in one game as a reliever, tossing three innings against the Mets. In those three innings he allowed two runs from six hits, including a homer. Garrett made 17 starts last season totaling 88 innings with a 3.58 ERA, 3.56 FIP, 1.250 WHIP and a 114 ERA+. This includes two starts against the Mets who racked up six runs on eight hits and three walks over 9 2/3 innings. The Mets have these career numbers against him:
- Tommy Pham 4-10, 3 K
- Pete Alonso 2-7, HR, 2 BB
- Brandon Nimmo 0-7
- Mark Canha 2-5, HR, BB, K
- Eduardo Escobar 0-6, K
- Francisco Lindor 3-6, 2B, 2 HR, K
- Starling Marte 2-4, 2B, K
- Jeff McNeil 1-3
Three Things To Watch For:
- Francisco Álvarez: Today is really Francisco’s day. The Mets top prospect was playing in Syracuse to start the season, 5.5 years younger than the average player. In four games and 19 PA’s he collected four hits including a double and two homers. Last season he had a .885 OPS between Binghamton and Syracuse before the Mets called him up. It’s difficult to not expect the world from him today.
- Four in Three Games? Pete Alonso is tied for the league lead in homers with five after hitting his fourth homer in three games yesterday. Alonso only has eight hits so far this season. Here’s hoping he continues to ride this hot streak (and his very early, way to small sample size .706 slugging percentage).
- See you later Marlins! The Mets faced the Marlins six times during spring training. Then the Mets played the Marlins seven times over the first ten games of the season (including today). The Mets and Marlins won’t see each other again until late September when they will do another two series against each other over a week and a half. I for one cannot wait for the Mets to get a break from Luis Arraez. See you in the fall Marlins!
Let’s Go Mets!
