The Mets look to stretch their winning streak to three games tonight as they play game two against the White Sox in the Windy City. Friday night the Mets took the lead early and held on in a fairly uneventful game. Jesse Winker and J.D. Martinez stole the show, going a combined 5-for-8 next to each other in the lineup with three runs scored, a double and a homer.
The Diamondbacks lost again, so the entire wild card race collapsed a bit more, with only five games separating the Diamondbacks, Padres, Braves and Mets. The Mets are still three games out of the playoffs as we close out play at the end of August.
Jose Quintana has pitched 140 1/3 innings over 26 games with a 4.36 ERA, 5.09 FIP, 1.304 WHIP and a 91 ERA+. August was dreadful for Quintana, allowing 19 runs over 20 2/3 innings over the first four games of the month. The Mets went 0-4 in those four games. He bounced back in a big way his last time out, holding the Padres to no runs, scattering four hits over 6 1/3 innings. Quintana will now look to make it two solid starts in a row against the club he made his major league debut for and was an All-Star for back in 2016. The White Sox have the following career numbers against Quintana:
- Andrew Benintendi 0-3
- Luis Robert Jr. 1-3, K
- Chuckie Robinson 0-2
- Miguel Vargas 2-5, HR, K
Davis Martin has pitched 27 1/3 innings over six games this year with a 2.96 ERA, 3.76 FIP, 1.427 WHIP and a 144 ERA+. Martin returned to the majors this year after Tommy Jon surgery and has been using a faster (high-80’s) changeup with success. He’s still building up his pitch count and he hasn’t thrown more than 90 pitches this season. The goal for the Mets here is to get him work deep into counts, walk batters, and then kick him out of the game early. He is walking batters at a 4.3 BB/9 clip. No one on the Mets roster has faced him in a major league game before.
Three Things To Watch For:
- Mets bullpen. The Mets had to use four relievers yesterday, including using Edwin Díaz for a third consecutive day. Brazobán and Danny Young are the most rested relievers for the Mets. Adam Ottavino tossed only three pitches Friday night and had two days off before that.
- Jesse Winker. Winker has gone 5-for-8 over his last two games with two doubles. His bat is waking up for the Mets at the time when they need him most. From getting key hits to cheering on players in huge moments, it’s finally Winker’s Mets moment!
- Power from the Mets big hitters. Homeruns from the big Mets hitters can give the Mets some breathing room tonight, especially when the bullpen has been used so much recently. Since August 19th J.D. Martinez has gone 10-for-39 with four homers (.590 SLG). Pete Alonso has hit two homers this week. (Not taking credit for it, but his last homer came on a day when we said, watch for an Alonso homer!).
Let’s Go Mets!
