The Mets spiral continued last night as the offense could only muster three hits, falling to the Phillies 5-1. Defense plagued the Mets, making the night difficult for Kodai Senga as he got tagged for four runs, only two earned. The Mets also traded Eduardo Escobar for prospects in the middle of the game. Now the Mets look to refocus and force a rubber game against the Phillies tomorrow.
Max Scherzer had a tremendous start for the Mets his last time out, allowing one run from four hits while striking out eight over eight innings. The Mets need another start like that today. Over 12 starts and 64 2/3 innings this season, Max has a 4.04 ERA, 4.22 FIP, 1.160 WHIP and a 103 ERA+. His amazing start last time out came on the heels of two terrible starts that saw him give up 11 runs over nine innings. Before those games, Max had a terrific start against the Phillies, holding them to two runs, one earned, over seven innings. The Phillies have the following career numbers against Scherzer:
- J.T. Realmuto 7-61, 2B, 2 HR, 4 BB, 18 K
- Bryce Harper 6-22, 2 2B, 3 HR, 6 BB, 9, K
- Nick Castellanos 5-22, 2 2B, BB, 10 K
- Alec Bohm 6-19, 5 K
- Kyle Schwarber 4-14, 2 HR, 4 BB, 5 K
- Josh Harrison 0-12, 5 K
- Bryson Stott 6-10, 2B, K
- Edmundo Sosa 2-11, 6 K
- Brandon Marsh 1-6, 3 K
- Darick Hall 1-3, K
- Kody Clemens 0-3, K
- Trea Turner 1-3, 2 K
- Garrett Stubbs 1-2, K
The Mets bats draw Christopher Sanchez in just his third game of the season. His first start was back on April 22nd where he allowed three runs over 4 1/3 innings. He returned to the Phillies last week and pitched four innings of one hit, shutout baseball. He’s pitched in 10 games and 49 2/3 innings for Lehigh Valley this season with a 4.35 ERA and a 1.450 WHIP. The Mets have the following limited numbers against him:
- Starling Marte 1-4, K
- Brandon Nimmo 1-2, BB, K
- Pete Alonso 1-3, HR, K
- Mark Canha 0-2, BB
- Francisco Lindor 1-2
- Jeff McNeill 1-3, 2B, K
- Luis Guillorme 0-1, K
- Omar Narváez 0-1
Three Things To Watch For:
- Brandon Nimmo’s power year? Brandon Nimmo hit his eighth homer of the season last night. In 2018 he hit a career high 17 homers, he came close last year with 16 homers. This is now his 4th season with eight homers, and he’s on track right now to have more homers than he did in 2018. Further, last year he led the league with seven triples. He already has four triples this season, putting him on pace to break his career high mark of eight, also set in 2018. His next triple will make him the sole holder of #7 on the Mets all time leader board.
- Jeff McNeil’s and Brandon Nimmo’s next double. Jeff McNeil has 129 doubles as a Met. If he hits a double today, he’ll tie Rusty Staub for #19 on the Mets all-time list. Brandon Nimmo is currently tied with Toddy Hundley with 118 (#22).
- Walks and strikeouts. During the Mets 10-8 loss on Wednesday, they walked an astounding eight times, but also struck out 14 times. Last night the Mets walked only three times and they struck out 10 times. There was only one player, Tommy Pham, during Wednesday’s game that recorded two walks and two strikeouts. That is to say, even though the Mets offense was scored eight runs on Wednesday night, the strikeouts piling up shows that there were players struggling in the lineup. Six players had two strikeouts in that game. Can the Mets keep the strikeouts down today and get the walks back up?
Let’s Go Mets!
