Sutter Health Park is not being the accusations of being a hitter friendly park. The Mets and Athletics hit three home runs last night, bringing the total to 21 home runs in the first seven games played at Sutter Health Park. The Athletics should consider loading up on power hitters and really establish a “no lead is safe” feeling in Sacramento for opponents.
Anyway, the Mets broke the game open 6-1 in the top of sixth inning last night before Canning allowed three runs in the bottom half of the frame including a two-run home run. Edwin Díaz allowed two runs in ninth, but the Mets had a three run lead and escaped with a win. Now the Mets will attempt to win their fourth consecutive series this afternoon!
David Peterson has allowed three runs from eight hits and eight walks over 10 2/3 innings while striking out 12 (2.53 ERA, 5.70 FIP, 1.500 WHIP, 152 ERA+). He’s striking out 25.5% of batters, good for the 66th percentile, but his 17% walk rate is in the 9th percentile. He’s also has a slight bump this year in groundballs, 53.8% this year compared to 50.8%. Walks are a killer in a home run hitting ballpark, so hopefully he can keep that down today. Peterson had a phenomenal start against the Athletics in Queens last season allowing one unearned run from three hits and four walks over 6 1/3 innings. The Athletics have the following career numbers against him:
- Miguel Andujar 1-4, 2B, BB
- JJ Bleday 1-4, K
- Lawrence Butler 0-3, K
- Shea Langeliers 0-2, BB, K
- Max Schuemann 0-1, BB
- Luis Urías 1-5
Former Mets-farm hand J.T. Ginn gets the start today! Ginn was a 2nd round pick for the Mets in 2020 and was traded to the Athletics for Chris Bassitt. He made his major league debut last season, pitching in eight games totaling 34 innings with a 4.24 ERA, 3.96 FIP, 1.324 WHIP and a 94 ERA+. He has been great in the minor leagues so far this season allowing only two runs over 11 innings while striking out an astounding 19 hitters. Jose Siri is the only Met who has seen Ginn in a major league game (0-for-1).
Three Things To Watch For:
- Walks and runners in scoring position. The Athletics are third in the major leagues in walks allowed with 58. The Mets are 17th in the majors with 46 walks earned. Five different Mets players were able to work a walk last night, but outside of a big hit from Pete Alonso, the team wasn’t able to do much with that. By the end of the game the Mets struck out 12 times (three strikeout nights from Nimmo, Torrens and Siri) and went 2-for-14 with runners in scoring position while leaving 10 runners on base. Tonight is another great opportunity to be patient, work some walks and then bring them home.
- The New York Mets hit doubles now. The Mets have 26 doubles on the season, tied for fourth in the majors. Friday night Acuña, Torrens, Alonso and Marte. The second run the Mets scored last night came from back-to-back Acuña and Torrens doubles, one of only two hits the Mets had with runners in scoring position.
- Pete Alonso. Where would the Mets be this season without Pete Alonso? Going into today’s games, Pete is hitting .378/.482/.778 with a 261 OPS+. He already has a 1.1 bWAR (2.6 last season, 4.4 in 2022). Pete is currently leading the league in RBI’s, batting average, slugging, OPS, OPS+, rOBA and Rbat+. Last night he tacked on three more RBI’s, bringing his season total to 18. It is the fourth time this season he has had at least 3 RBI’s in a game and he’s now only 10 behind Ed Kranepool for 5th all time for the Mets. Stay hot Pete!
Let’s Go Mets!
