Tonight the Mets look to start a new winning streak. The Cubs beat the Mets 7-2 in a game the Mets fell behind early and could not claw their way back into. Kodai Senga was pushed back from yesterday’s start to continue to give him an extra day of rest between starts (because his next start would have been on regular rest). Tylor Megill was not his best and allowed six runs, four earned, in 3 2/3 innings. The bullpen, which has been overtaxed recently, kept the Mets in the game but this is not how the Mets wanted to start this road trip.
Tonight the Mets look to put last night behind them as they take on an old friend, Marcus Stroman.
Kodai Senga has pitched 43 innings (eight starts) this season with a 3.77 ERA, 4.36 FIP, 1.442 WHIP and a 112 ERA+. Senga is coming off by far his best game of the season where he allowed one run in six innings while striking out 12 Rays. He has now tossed three quality starts on the season, including two of his last three games. Senga’s 12 K’s in his last start has brought him to 55 on the season, good for a 11.5 K/9. He also limited his walks last time to only three (26 on the season), which raised his K/BB ratio to 2.12.
Marcus Stroman has made ten starts pitching 56 innings this season with a 3.05 ERA, 3.56 FIP, 1.143 WHIP and a 143 ERA+. This is a slightly better line than his last season with the Mets where he had a 3.02 ERA. 3.49 FIP, 1.145 WHIP and 133 ERA+ over 33 starts (one of the Mets more reliable pitchers that season). Stroman has allowed two runs or fewer in eight of his ten starts this year including three times that he has shutout opponents. In the other two starts he allowed 11 of the 19 total runs he’s given up this season. He faced the Mets once last year allowing one run from one hit in 4 1/3 innings. The Mets have the following numbers against him:
- Francisco Lindor 6-21, 2B, 2 BB, 4 K
- Eduardo Escobar 4-17, 2 2B, BB, 2 K
- Tommy Pham 5-8, 2B, 3 BB, 2 K
- Starling Marte 1-6
- Brandon Nimmo 1-2, 3 BB
- Mark Canha 1-3
- Pete Alonso 1-2, 2B
- Jeff McNeil 0-2
Three Things To Watch For:
- Brandon Nimmo hot streak loading? While most of the Mets offense was asleep last night, Brandon Nimmo went 3-for-4 at the plate with a a double and a run scored. It was his fifth game in a row that he recorded a hit. There have been six times this season when Nimmo has followed up a multi-hit game with another multi-hit game!
- The back of the bullpen is rested and ready to go. While the Mets bullpen needed to put a lot of work in last night, that work was contained to Leone and Nogosek (and a sprinkling of Brigham). Robertson, Ottavino and Raley have each had two full days of rest. Smith has had four full days of rest.
- Pete Alonso doing Pete Alonso things. Pete Alonso was the Mets offense last night driving in both runs. He hit his major league leading 18th homer of the season, which now gives him a three homer lead over Max Muncy who is in second.
Let’s Go Mets!
