The Mets head to St. Petersburg tonight coming off a fantastic end to their series against the Cubs. On Wednesday night the Mets had a crushing, 1-0 loss that ended with a possible obstruction of home plate when Pete Alonso tried to tie the game in the bottom of the ninth. The vibes were not good!
Thursday was the Francisco Lindor flu game though to bring the vibes back. Lindor came off the bench, possibly still not feeling great from his 24-hour bug, smacked a two-run double in the middle of the game. He then stayed in the game and later had the winning hit in the bottom of the 11th. Now the Mets bring that energy for a weekend series with the Rays.
Jose Quintana has made six starts tossing 33 2/3 innings this season with a 3.48 ERA, 4.27 FIP, 1.337 WHIP and a 113 ERA+. Quintana is coming off of a tremendous start where he held the Cardinals to one run over eight innings which snapped a Mets losing streak. Quintana’s Baseball Savant page doesn’t look the greatest, but does show a bit about how he’s getting it done right now. His fastball run value is in the 88th percentile and he’s getting groundballs 66% of the time. The Rays have the following career numbers against Quintana:
- Randy Arozarena 1-2, 2B, BB, K
- Yandy Diaz 1-2
- Niko Goodrum 2-4, 2B, 2 K
- Isaac Paredes 1-1
- Amed Rosario 3-7, 2B, K
Aaron Civale has 5.06 ERA, 4.29 FIP, 1.313 WHIP and 74 ERA+ over six starts (32 innings) this season. Over his first two starts of the season he allowed only two runs from eight hits over 12 innings. In his last three starts he has allowed 14 runs from 21 hits and five walks over 15 innings of work. Homers have been a weakness for him this season. Civale has allowed six so far spread out over five of his six starts. The Mets have the following limited career numbers against Civale:
- Pete Alonso 0-2
- J.D. Martinez 1-3
- Omar Narváez 1-2, BB, K
- DJ Stewart 0-5, BB
Three Things To Watch For:
- Can the Mets hit the ball out of the Trop? The New York Mets are tied for 13th in the league for homers, sitting at 32 for the season. The power for the Mets have dried up recently only hitting only two in their series with the Cubs. Civale has given up a lot of homeruns this season. Seems like a good time for the Mets to get that aspect of their game back.
- Amed Rosario. The Mets will face an old friend tonight in a new place. Rosario was part of the trade that brought Francisco Lindor to New York. After a couple of seasons in Cleveland he was traded in 2023 to the Dodgers for another form Met – Noah Syndergaard. Amed Rosario signed with the Rays in the off-season and is having a solid 2024 with his new club. Over 28 games he is hitting .295/.315/.419 (113 OPS+) which is a slight bump from his career .273/.308/.401. He is also in the 80th percentile for whiff% and 87t for K%. Always love to see a former Met prospect succeed.
- Brandon Nimmo the on base machine. Over his last eight games Nimmo has gone 8-for-28 at the plate with two doubles, a homer and five walks (.394 OBP). While the Mets have turned his on base skills into only four runs (which speaks to the overall offensive struggles), Nimmo is at least setting the table for something to happen. On Thursday he completed the first comeback bringing home Lindor in a key, runner-in-scoring-position situation.
Let’s Go Mets!
