The Mets look to snap their four game losing streak tonight against the Athletics. The Athletics jumped all over Paul Blackburn and the Mets early in the series opener on Tuesday night. It was another frustrating night that saw the Mets sink another game back in the playoffs. They are now 2.0 games behind the Braves for the last wild card spot. The Giants and the Cardinals are now 1.5 games behind the Mets.
David Peterson looks to get the Mets back on track tonight. Over 64 2/3 innings in 12 starts Peterson has a 3.34 ERA, 4.45 FIP, 1.423 WHIP and a 118 ERA+. In the month of August he has allowed three runs from nine hits and four walks over 11 innings with a 2.45 ERA, 2.63 FIP. The Athletics hitting, especially post All-Star break, has been pretty good (we saw this Tuesday night). Peterson will have to keep the ball in the park in order to be successful. He has a 0.8 HR/9 this season which is better than his career mark of 1.1. The only two members of the Athletics roster who have faced Peterson are Miguel Andujar (0-for-2) and JJ Bleday (0-for-1).
Joey Estes has pitched 82 1/3 innings this season with a 4.70 ERA, 4.37 FIP, 1.202 WHIP and an 86 ERA+. Since July 14th he has had a 2.84 ERA, 4.80 FIP over 25 1/3 innings. In August he’s allowed four runs from eight hits and two walks over 11 innings. Joey has essentially been all over the place this season. His best start of the season was a complete game shutout and his next time out he allowed eight runs over 1 2/3 innings. No one on the Mets roster has faced Estes in a major league game.
Three Things To Watch For:
- Austin Adams. Austin Adams was signed to a non-roster invitation spring training deal with the Mets this season. During spring training the Mets traded him to the Athletics for cash during the roster crunch in the bullpen. Tuesday night Adams came into the game when the momentum was starting to shift from the Athletics to the Mets. He had a good inning, no hits, no runs, no walks, two strikeouts. He then did the OMG dance and seemed to be chirping coming off of the mound. This is the thing for the Mets bats to rally around tonight.
- Joey Estes home run problems. Joey Estes weakness this season has been homeruns, giving up 11 this season which is good for a 1.2 HR/9. The Mets bats are fairly cold, but have shown an ability to sock the ball throughout the season.
- Runners in scoring position. The good news is the Mets on Tuesday night got four hits with runners in scoring position, which is more than they had last weekend. The bad news is they went 4-for-17 and left 11 runners on base. So there are signs the offense is coming back, but the results aren’t there yet. Lindor has been on fire with his third straight game collecting two hits and second consecutive game with a double (15-for-43 over his 10 games hitting .349/.391/.419).
Let’s Go Mets!
