Friday night’s game was a bit of a disaster for the Mets who lost 14-2 and gave up seven home runs to the Pirates. This stretched the Mets losing streak to three games and was one of the more lopsided losses of the season. The Mets will try to snap this losing streak and channel all the Grimace they can as they take on the Pirates for game two this afternoon.
David Peterson has made six starts for the Mets this season totaling 33 1/3 innings with a 3.51 ERA, 4.63 FIP, 1.440 WHIP and a 110 ERA+. Last time out against the Nationals he allowed two runs from seven hits and a walk over 6 1/3 innings. In his last three starts he has allowed only five runs despite allowing 14 hits and walking nine batters – while the Mets hope he has a quieter afternoon with runners on the basepaths, he has shown an ability to get out of trouble this season.
Peterson had a relief outing against the Pirates back in 2023 where he allowed one run from three hits and six (!) walks over 3 2/3 innings. The Pirates have the following career numbers against him:
- Joey Bart 1-5, 2 K
- Oneil Cruz 0-1, K
- Ke’Bryan Hayes 1-2, BB, K
- Connor Joe 0-0, 2 BB
- Andrew McCutchen 1-11, HR, 4 BB, 2 K
- Joshua Palacios 0-2, K
- Bryan Reynolds 0-4, 2 K
- Michael A. Taylor 0-5, K
- Jared Triolo 0-1, BB, K
The Mets bats will face Bailey Falter tonight. Over 16 starts and 88 1/3 innings, Falter has a 3.87 ERA, 4.47 FIP, 1.147 WHIP and a 104 ERA+. So far this has been Falters best year in the major leagues and thankfully for the Mets Falter is having his best year with the Pirates and not for his original team that traded him in 2023 – the Phillies.
Falter already faced the Mets this season and was pretty solid, holding the Mets to two runs on four hits and a walk over five innings. The Mets have the following career numbers against Falter:
- Pete Alonso 1-8, HR, BB, K
- Francisco Alvarez 2-4
- Harrison Bader 0-2, K
- Ben Gamel 0-5, K
- Francisco Lindor 2-8, 3 BB, K
- Jeff McNeil 1-8, 2 K
- Brandon Nimmo 3-10, HR, BB, 4 K
- Tyrone Taylor 2-6, K
- Luis Torrens 0-2
- Mark Vientos 0-2
Three Things To Watch For:
- Keeping the ball in the ballpark. Luis Severino gave up three homers on Friday. Adcock allowed three. Diekman gave up a solo shot and failed to record an out. The Mets desperately need their pitchers today to keep them in the game. It is clear over the last three games the offense has hit a bit of rough patch so this is more important than ever for the Mets.
- Pete Alonso: Outside of Jeff McNeil, Alonso is the only Met who had a good day at the plate Friday night going 2-for-3 with a double. In his last nine games Pete has gone 10-for-34 with two doubles, two home runs and seven runs scored hitting .294/.385/.529. This is even better when you consider that there was an 0-for-7 skid between July 3rd and July 4th.
- The Bullpen is actually good to go. Luis Severino struggled on Friday, but he still gave the Mets six innings. Tyler Adcock was forced to push through a large chunk of the relief outing. As a result Garrett, Núñez, and Buttó have all not been used in three calendar days (Garrett hasn’t gone since Monday). Ottavino has had two days of rest and Houser has had one day, and only tossed 15 pitches his last time out.
Let’s Go Mets!
