The Mets let the lead the slip away late last night and the Diamondbacks were able to take game one of the series. The Diamondbacks with the win increased their lead on the last Wild Card spot to 1.5 games over the Marlins and the Giants. The loss means the Mets continue to “control” their destiny to a protected draft pick (as much as you can control tanking).
José Butto rejoined the Mets rotation last week. He had a terrific start, allowing two runs from six hits and a walk over 6 1/3 innings. Butto now has an opportunity to get an early start on 2024 spring training competition for a rotation spot during the last two weeks of the season. Overall this season he has pitched in five games and 21 innings with the Mets with a 3.86 ERA, 4.50 FIP, 1.571 WHIP and a 110 ERA+. The only player on the Diamondbacks who has faced Butto in an official game before is Jace Peterson (0-for-2, BB).
Ryne Nelson has made 25 starts tossing 130 2/3 innings in his second major league season. He has a 5.30 ERA, 5.07 FIP, 1.423 WHIP and an 82 ERA+. This is his first start in the rotation since being sent down to Reno to work on his pitching. He had back to back starts in August where he allowed a combined 12 runs from 15 hits over six innings of work. He faced the Mets in July and allowed seven runs from nine hits over three innings. The Mets have the following career numbers against him:
- Francisco Lindor 2-2, 2 3B
- Daniel Vogelbach 1-2, 2B, K
- Brandon Nimmo 0-2
- Pete Alonso 2-2, HR
- Jeff McNeil 1-2, 2B
- Francisco Álvarez 1-2, HR
Three Things To Watch For:
- Jeff McNeil wants all the hits. Last night McNeil went 3-for-4 at the plate with a home run. Since August 2nd Jeff has hit .313/.350/.469 over 37 games including five of his eight home runs of the season. Jeff has really turned things around since mid-July and is playing like his 2022 self again. In addition to collecting hits, if he gets two more home runs he’ll be at double digits for just the second time in his career.
- Power for Mauricio. Ronny already has ten hits in nine games this season, collecting hits in eight of his ten starts so far. His very first hit was a rocket, stand-up double. Since then it’s all been singles until last night were he had another double, picking up two more RBI’s. We are looking to see more signs of power as the season starts to wind down.
- Mets dramatically improve their strikeout to walk ratio. The Mets won on Sunday but struck out 16 times and only walked twice (8:1!). Last night the Mets lost but struck out 10 times and were able to work five walks (2:1!). We were hoping to see the Mets take a more patient approach yesterday and they did! Also five different Mets worked walks in last night’s game. Let’s hope they can keep the same approach tonight.
Let’s Go Mets!
