The Mets look to improve to ten games below .500 tonight as they take on the Pirates for game two of their series. The Mets offense was effective last night, scoring six runs on the highly touted prospect Quinn Priester who has a rough start to his major league career. Carlos Carrasco labored through three innings for the Mets which turned into a bullpen game of sorts with the Mets needing five pitchers from the pen to get through the game. Tyson Miller and Sam Coonrod both made their Mets debut and combined allowed a hit and three walks on their way to pitching three scoreless innings. All around, a pretty good night for New York.
David Peterson continues his return to the rotation tonight for the Mets. On the season he has pitched in 19 games with a 5.61 ERA, 4.44 FIP, 1.609 WHIP and a 75 ERA+. Since returning to the rotation he has allowed two runs from five hits over 6 2/3 innings spread across two starts. Most of those numbers occurred in his last start against the Cubs where he allowed two runs from four hits and two walks over 3 2/3 innings. He was able to stretch his arm from 52 pitches to 62 as he continues to work on stamina after a lengthy time in the bullpen. The only two members of the Pirates who have seen Peterson in a major league game are Andrew McCutchen (1-for-11, HR, 3 K, 3 BB) and Bryan Reynolds (0-for-1, K).
The Mets bats will get a look Bailey Falter, who was acquired by the Pirates at the deadline this year for Rodolfo Castro. Overall this year, Falter has pitched in 10 games (48 1/3 innings) with a 5.21 ERA, 5.00 FIP, 1.552 WHIP and an 84 ERA+. In his last two starts as a member of the Pirates he’s allowed five runs over eight innings from 14 hits and three walks (5.63 ERA, 6.39 FIP, 2.125 WHIP, 84 ERA+). The Mets have the following career numbers against him:
- Francisco Lindor 1-3, 3 BB
- Brandon Nimmo 0-4, 2 K, BB
- Pete Alonso 1-4, HR, BB
- Jeff McNeil 1-4
- Rafael Ortega 0-0, BB
Three Things To Watch For:
- What does Lindor do next? Francisco Lindor stole his 20th base of the season last night, marking the third time in his career that he’s had a 20-20 season. Lindor (116 OPS+, 4.3 WAR) is having a monster year for the Mets and can still easily reach several personal milestones by the end of the season. He’s only four doubles away from his first 30+ double season since 2019. He’s only five homers away from besting his total from last season.
- The Mets bullpen and David Peterson. The Mets have made a flurry of bullpen moves over the last couple of days thanks to their doubleheader on Saturday. Unless the Mets make an additional move before today’s game, every member of the bullpen has pitched over the last two games. David Peterson has had two short outings in a row. We’ll see what Buck does to remedy this tonight.
- Daniel Vogelbach. On Friday night Vogelbach went 0-for-5 with four strikeouts. Since then he has gone 4-for-10 with two homers and four walks. Vogelbach is a streaky hitter, are we finally getting a Vogelbach hot streak in 2023?
Let’s Go Mets!
