The Mets look to get back in the win column tonight after they dropped the series opener to the Rockies Tuesday night, the third Mets loss in four games. The Mets struggled with runners in scoring position last night and had enough weird/unusual things happen just made whole night feel like “not their night”. Luckily for the Mets, the Braves lost yesterday, so the Mets are still only 1.5 games out of the last wild card spot.
Paul Blackburn looks to build off of his impressive Mets debut where he held the Angels to one run over six innings (six hits, one walk, six strikeouts). Across 57 innings this season he has a 4.11 ERA, 4.40 FIP, 1.175 WHIP and a 99 ERA+. He pitched in Colorado last season allowing only two runs, scattering nine hits over six innings while striking out seven batters. The Rockies have the following career numbers against Blackburn:
- Elias Díaz 1-3, 2B, K
- Ryan McMahon 1-3, 2B
- Jacob Stallings 0-1, K
- Michael Toglia 1-2
- Ezequiel Tovar 0-3, 2 K
Ryan Feltner has tossed 121 1/3 innings this season with a 4.97 ERA, 4.33 FIP, 1.409 WHIP and a 91 ERA+. He faced the Mets right before the All Star break and allowed four runs, three earned over 3 2/3 innings, walking five batters. Since then he has allowed seven runs, six earned over 19 innings spread across three starts. Home runs have been an issue giving up five of them over his last three starts. He also has a wide margin between his ERA and FIP during that stretch (2.84 vs 6.12). The Mets have the following numbers against Feltner:
- Pete Alonso 3-5, HR, BB
- Francisco Alvarez 1-1, 2B, BB
- Ben Gamel 1-3, BB, 2 K
- Francisco Lindor 0-4, 5 BB, K
- J.D. Martinez 0-4, 3 K
- Jeff McNeil 3-6, 2B
- Brandon Nimmo 1-4, 3 BB, 2 K
- Tyrone Taylor 0-2, K
- Luis Torrens 0-2
- Mark Vientos 0-2, K
- Jesse Winker 1-2, BB, K
Three Things To Watch For:
- Weird things happen in Colorado. This isn’t about the hole in the net last night, or the water logged field. Colorado is a big ballpark. We saw Severino last night get stung by two-run homer where the runner got on base thanks to a long, long hit and the homer would have been a flyout in normal altitude conditions. Weird things can happen in Colorado. Without any data to back it up, it feels the Mets have just been unlucky over the last few days (hard hit balls hit directly to fielders). Eventually that luck has to change right? Why not in Colorado?
- RISP. Runners in scoring position continues to be a problem for the Mets until it’s not. Over their last six games they have gone 12-for-52 (.231). Monday afternoon Tyrone Taylor got a big hit clearing the bases with a double. It would do wonders for everyone’s confidence and the narrative starting to build around the team to do better with RISP tonight.
- Is Nimmo coming out of his slump? Brandon Nimmo had a double on July 11th. He then didn’t have another extra-base hit until August 3rd. Tuesday night he went 2-for-4 with a double and an RBI. It was his second double in four games and his second multi-hit game this month.
Let’s Go Mets!
