The Mets return to Citi Field tonight after a mixed road trip. Some days the Mets got good starting. Other days they got good hitting. There were some games that had effective bullpen outings. The Mets are still looking to get a groove where all three parts of the team fire at the same time.
In the Mets two most recent losses, the bats were fully on and kept them in the game each night. Can the pitching keep up tonight?
Kodai Senga returns to the mound tonight. On the season he has made nine starts tossing 48 innings with a 3.94 ERA, 4.31 FIP, 1.521 WHIP and a 108 ERA+. He allowed three runs from six hits and five walks over five innings. Senga has a very high 5.8 BB/9 on the season but it is also paired with a high 11.4 K/9. Unfortunately the walks came back to hurt him in his last start. If he can keep his walk count lower tonight, he will have a solid chance to rack up another quality start and give the Mets a chance to win the game.
The Mets bats look to keep the momentum going against Ranger Suárez tonight. He’s made only three starts this season (11 innings), allowing 12 runs from 17 hits (9.82 ERA, 3.47 FIP, 2.000 WHIP and a 45 ERA+). His last outing was his deepest of the season. Ranger was able to pitch five innings and 85 pitches but still allowed five runs from five hits. His two starts against the Mets season were quite different from each other. He opened the season against the Mets, allowing three runs from five hits over 2 2/3 innings. Then last August he tossed a gem against the Mets, holding them to one run from three hits over seven innings of work. The Mets have the following numbers against him:
- Brandon Nimmo 3-10, 2 BB, K
- Pete Alonso 0-7, 3 BB, 2 K
- Starling Marte 2-9, BB, K
- Francisco Lindor 1-6
- Mark Canha 1-3, BB, K
- Eduardo Escobar 3-5, 2B, HR
- Luis Guillorme 2-4
- Jeff McNeil 0-3, K
- Tomás Nido 0-2, 2 K
- Tommy Pham 0-1, K
Three Things To Watch For:
- The back of the bullpen is rested, but not the middle inning crew. The Mets haven’t had to call on Adam Ottavino or David Robertson since Friday night. Brooks Raley tossed six pitches on Sunday and nothing on Saturday. So if Kodai Senga has a quality start, then the Mets are good. If Senga has an early exit that the Mets are going to have to use their overused arms. Brigham, Leone and Nogosek have each pitched on back to back days (and we know how that went).
- Francisco Álvarez continues to crush it. In his last eight games Francisco has gone 12-for-30 with seven runs and 13 runs batted in. Seven of his 12 hits went for extra bases including five homers. He has an absurd 1.421 OPS during this stretch. Francisco got pushed higher up in the lineup by the end of the weekend, and he delivered.
- Trea Turner’s struggles. Turner was the big acquisition for the Phillies this off-season. He had a big game on Saturday going to 2-for-5 at the plate hitting his second homer of the season. In his last nine games though he is hitting just .154/.195/.308. Overall this season he is hitting .243/.288/.383 with an 83 OPS+. Which Turner shows up tonight?
Let’s Go Mets!
