The Mets will attempt to win their fifth consecutive series with a rubber game against the Twins this afternoon in Minnesota. The Mets struggled Tuesday night to capitalize with runners in scoring position and couldn’t get their offense going as they lost 6-3.
It felt like the Mets started throw away part of last night’s game for today. The Mets announced before the game that Griffin Canning wasn’t feeling well and would be bumped from his normal start, thus needing to make multiple roster moves before today’s game. So they over extended Kranick who allowed his first runs of the season (two runs over 1 2/3 innings) and had Danny Young finish out the game pitching 1 1/3 innings.
Justin Hagenman will make his major league debut as the bulk inning guy this afternoon! He has pitched 10 1/3 innings over three games with Syracuse this season allowing 11 runs, eight earned from 15 hits and four walks. Home runs hurt him in his first two starts this season, allowing four over 7 2/3 innings. In his last start he allowed four runs, but only one earned over 2 2/3 innings while striking out five batters. Hagenman has gone as high as 73 pitches this season. Last season in Worcester he had a 4.91 ERA, 1.320 WHIP over 91 2/3 innings.
The Mets bats will try to end the series strong against David Festa. Festa has made one start this season allowing one unearned run over 4 2/3 innings, scattering three hits and a walk while striking out four. Last season he pitched in 14 games totaling 64 1/3 innings with a 4.90 ERA, 3.76 FIP, 1.321 WHIP and an 86 ERA+. This includes a start against the Mets where he allowed only two runs from three hits and a walk over five innings (a game the Mets won 2-0). The Mets have the following career numbers against Festa:
- Pete Alonso 0-2, 2 K
- Francisco Lindor 0-3, K
- Brandon Nimmo 0-1, BB
- Luis Torrens 0-2
- Mark Vientos 1-2, HR
- Jesse Winker 1-2, K
Three Things To Watch For:
- Pete Alonso. Pete Alonso continues to carry this ballclub. He hit his fifth homerun of the season last night and is still leading the league in OPS (1.195) and OPS+ (242). On this road trip he has gone 7-for-17 at the plate with two doubles, two home runs and three walks (.412/.500/.882). A key sign though to how the Mets offense is doing – Pete has only scored four times over the last five games. As soon as someone behind him in the lineup starts to heat up this offense is going to soar.
- Juan Soto. On Monday night Soto broke out of his 13 game homerun drought with a two-run shot. Tuesday night Soto hit a solo shot (and just got under a pitch missing potentially another home run). Let’s turn this into a hot streak!
- Uncharacteristically Impatient. The Mets only worked one walk on Tuesday night. Full disclosure, I didn’t watch the whole game last night, so I don’t know if it was because the Mets were chasing or if the Twins pitchers were really that good. The Mets are 14th in the league in walks with 60, which averages to about 3.5 walks per game. Hopefully yesterday was just a blip rather than the start of guys pressing.
Let’s Go Mets!
