The Mets escaped a series sweep from the Giants and now welcome the Dodgers to town!
The Mets finally got a win on Sunday, snapping their five game losing streak in a fairly unconventional fashion. Sean Manaea was solid for the Mets over five innings and then Houser came in with four of his best innings of relief this year, allowing only one run to score, which changed the score from 2-1 to 3-1 Giants. The Mets then rallied in the bottom of the ninth, finally getting some hits with runners in scoring position, to win the game 4-3. Could this be an inflection point of the season for the Mets?
Tylor Megill makes his second start since returning from the injured list for the Mets. Over two starts this season he has allowed five runs, three earned, over nine innings while striking out 11 batters. He looked solid in his last start, allowing three runs, two earned over five innings racking up seven strikeouts and tossing 86 pitches overall. In his one start against the Dodgers in 2023, he allowed three runs from seven hits and four walks while striking out four batters over five innings. The Dodgers have the following career numbers against him:
- Austin Barnes 0-2
- Freddie Freeman 5-11, 3 K
- Teoscar Hernández 1-5, K
- Jason Heyward 1-3
- Shohei Ohtani 0-2
- Miguel Rojas 1-4, BB, K
- Will Smith 0-2, K
- Chris Taylor 1-2, K
- Miguel Vargas 0-2, BB, K
The Mets bats will get a look at Gavin Stone who has made nine starts this season pitching 50 innings. He has a 3.60 ERA, 3.83 FIP, 1.300 WHIP and a 112 ERA+. Gavin Stone is coming off of his first rough start since April 20th (when he faced the Mets. After facing the Mets, Stone pitched four games allowing four earned runs (exactly one run per game) over 26 innings (1.38 ERA, 4.32 FIP). In his last start he allowed four runs over six innings from eight hits and a walk.
Against the Mets this season he allowed two runs from four hits and five walks over 3 1/3 innings. The Mets have the following career numbers against him:
- Pete Alonso 0-2
- Harrison Bader 0-2
- Francisco Lindor 1-2, 2B
- Starling Marte 0-2, K
- Jeff McNeil 1-1, 2B, BB
- Omar Narváez 0-2
- Brandon Nimmo 0-0, 2 BB
- DJ Stewart 0-0, 2 BB
Three Things To Watch For:
- Can the Mets keep Shohei Ohtani and Mookie Betts off the basepaths? Ohtani and Betts are third and sixth respectively in OPS this season. Ohtani is currently hitting .336/.403/.621 with a 1.024 OPS and a 188 OPS+. He’s leading the league in all of those stats just listed except for OBP. He’s in the 99th or 100th percentile for six different hitting stats on Baseball Savant. Betts is hitting .335/.431/.542 with a .974 OPS and a 177 OPS+. The Mets have to keep both hitters in check tonight and throughout the series.
- The bullpen is rested. From Wednesday through Saturday the Mets bullpen player a role in three straight losses for the Mets. Adrian Houser saved the entire bullpen yesterday pitching four innings allowing only one run (which makes up for his performance on Tuesday where he allowed six runs as a starter). Look to see if the bullpen can move past their recent performances this afternoon and keep the lead if the Mets have one.
- Working walks. The Mets were patient against Gavin Stone the last time they faced him, working five walks over 3 1/3 innings and getting him out of the game quickly. They should try the same gameplan this afternoon, get to the Dodgers bullpen and make them work harder than they have to. The Mets only had two walks as a team in Sunday’s game and we know the Mets as a team are better when they make pitchers work harder and longer in at-bats.
Let’s Go Mets!
