What a game last night! The New York Mets showed the same fight we saw in 2022 and came back to the beat the Rays in their most memorable win of the season. The Mets offense was non-existent throughout Kodai Senga’s history making start. The Rays were able to double their lead to 2-0 after a solo shot in the top of the seventh. Things were looking grim.
Then the Mets came back three different times, two to tie the game and one to win the game. Mark Vientos tied the game in the bottom of the seventh on a two-run shot. Francisco Álvarez hit a three-run bomb in the bottom of the ninth with two outs. Pete Alonso hit a three-run blast in the bottom of the tenth.
Now the Mets look to build on top of this energy to win a series against one of the best teams in baseball.
Tylor Megill has pitched 40 1/3 innings over eight starts with a 4.01 ERA, 5.24 FIP, 1.512 WHIP and a 104 ERA+. Things have been rough for Megill over his his last four starts where he has allowed 13 runs over 19 1/13 innings. The good news though is he hasn’t allowed any homers in his last two starts. There is no one on the Rays roster who has seen Megill in a major league game.
The Mets bats will get a look at rookie Taj Bradley today. Over three starts (15 1/3 innings) Bradley has a 3.52 ERA, 2.59 FIP, 0.913 WHIP and a 118 ERA+. Bradley made his first start on April 12th and allowed three runs over five innings to the Red Sox. He then shutout the Rays over 5 1/3 before allowing three runs over five innings to the Astros. The top Rays prospect recorded 23 strikeouts in that stretch. The Rays claim that he was sent down after the Astros start to get him used to a five-man rotation. Whatever the reason was he has been a bit off since returning to the minors, allowing 16 runs over nine innings. With the Rays injuries in their rotation, he’s probably back for good now (but it’s also the Rays so who knows).
Three Things To Watch For:
- Which Mets Show Up Today? Until the fall of 2022, the New York Mets were known as the team you could never count out. They constantly could claw and blast their way back into games. We hadn’t seen that fight since late summer of last year, but it came back last night. Does that momentum carry over into today’s game? Could the Mets do the impossible and even score first inning runs?
- The Mets hit homers now. After going homer-less for what felt like 37 consecutive games, the Mets have hit six homers in their last two games including two homers from Pete Alonso who is leading the league now with 15 on the season. We already know the Mets can draw walks (7th in the majors with 157) and get hit by a lot of pitches (3rd in the majors with 26). Hopefully the Mets can ride this power hot steak with their ability to get on base to rack up some runs.
- Bullpen bounce back time. The Mets bullpen, especially the back end of the bullpen, has been the Mets strength this season. The bullpen has also had to put in a ton of extra work this season since the Mets have only had seven quality starts. Last night was an uncharacteristically bad night for the pen as they allowed six runs from four different pitchers, including two of the Mets best pitchers this season. Just like how the Mets bullpen has bailed the Mets out this year the Mets bats were able to bail the bullpen out. We are looking for the bullpen to shake last night off.
Let’s Go Mets!
