No need to lease an apartment in Panic City, the Mets offense came roaring back to life last night. The Mets scored 10 runs, powered by four home runs including a Pete Alonso grand slam as they beat the Marlins to take the first game of the series.
Tonight we get a battle of aces coming off lost years due to injury. Kodai Senga returns after making only one start in the regular season. Sandy Alcantara missed all of 2024 after having Tommy John in October 2023. Should be an exciting night in Miami!
Kodai Senga was a sensation in 2023. He finished the season making 29 starts, tossing 166 1/3 innings with a 2.98 ERA, 3.63 FIP, 1.220 WHIP and a 140 ERA+. He struck out 202 batters, was an All-Star, finished 7th in Cy Young voting and 2nd for ROY voting. Injuries fully derailed his 2024. He made one start in July, allowing two runs over 5 1/3 innings before an injury sidelined him again until the October. How far the Mets go this year could depend on how Senga comes back from injury. There are only three Marlins have have seen Senga in an official major league game:
- Xavier Edwards 0-4, K
- Nick Fortes 0-2, K
- Matt Mervis 0-2, BB, K
Sandy Alcantara missed all of 2024 recovering from Tommy John surgery. The ace of the Marlins staff had a tremendous 2022 with an 8.0 bWAR over 228 2/3 innings. His 2023 was a step back, where he had a 4.14 ERA, 4.03 FIP, 1.213 WHIP and a 113 ERA (3.9 bWAR) over 184 2/3 innings. In his first start this year he allowed two runs from two hits and four walks while striking out seven over 4 2/3 innings. The Mets have the following career numbers against Sandy:
- Pete Alonso 5-32, 3 2B, HR, 2 BB, 8 K
- Francisco Lindor 7-25, 2 2B, HR, 3 BB, 4 K
- Starling Marte 5-15, 2 3B, HR, BB, 3 K
- Brandon Nimmo 4-30, 2 2B, 4 BB, 6 K
- Jose Siri 2-6, 2B, K
- Juan Soto 11-38, 2B, 2 HR, 6 BB, 6 K
- Tyrone Taylor 0-6, 2 K
- Jesse Winker 1-4, 2B
Three Things To Watch For:
- Juan Soto to Pete Alonso. Last night’s game functioned exactly how the Mets hoped it would. Juan Soto worked a walk to load the bases. Pete Alonso then made the Marlins pay with a grand slam. The Mets were leading 2-1 before Pete’s grand salami. Juan Soto was the person you wanted up with two on. Pete was person you wanted to break the game open. More of this please!
- Containing Otto Lopez. What a start for Lopez in 2025! He is slashing .400/.478/.700 over 20 at bats so far this season including his second three hit performance last night against the Mets (3-for-5, HR, K). In 2024 Lopez had only six homeruns over 403 AB’s. He already has two this year. The Mets need an answer for him now, and a week from now when the Marlins travel to Queens.
- Lindor’s Bat. There has been a lot of talk about the torpedo bats that the Yankees were using against the Brewers last weekend. At some point over the weekend, it was reported that Lindor was also using one of the torpedo bats in Houston. Steve Gelbs reported that Lindor was actually using the torpedo bat a handful of times in 2024, it just wasn’t as “torpedo-y” shaped as it is this year.
Let’s Go Mets!
