The Mets terrible weekend continued into last night with a loss against the Pittsburgh Pirates. The Braves won yesterday as well, so now both teams are tied on top of the division. The Mets, however, play two games today and can be the sole holders of first place if they sweep the doubleheader, independent of what the Braves do. This of course requires the Mets to win – something that has eluded them recently.
The Mets are still a good baseball team and all it takes is the momentum to swing back in their favor. If Pete Alonso can heat up, if the Mets can ride Escobar’s hot streak, if the DH’s start hitting – this team will be back to the powerhouse they’ve been all season.
Chris Bassitt returns to the mound tonight. Over 25 starts and 154 1/3 innings this season he has a 3.32 ERA, 3.51 FIP, 1.147 WHIP and a 117 ERA+. He’s coming off of a good outing against the Dodgers last week where he held them to two runs from six hits and three walks over six innings, a game the Mets won. Overall since the start of August he has made six starts, tossing 39 1/3 innings with a 1.83 ERA and a 2.71 FIP. The Pirates have the following career numbers against him:
- Roberto Perez 3-8, K
- Josh VanMeter 0-5, 2 K
- Michael Chavis 1-2, K
- Ben Gamel 0-2, K
- Bryan Reynolds 1-1, BB
The Mets bats will try to wake up against Duane Underwood Jr. who is making just his second major league start of his career. Duane’s very first major league game in 2018, his only game in 2018, was a start. Since then he has made 110 relief appearances. This year he has pitched in 38 games and 45 innings with a 4.60 ERA, 3.20 FIP, 1.511 WHIP and a 91 ERA+. Over his last three games and 3 1/3 innings, he has allowed five runs from seven hits and three walks. In two of those three games he went over 30 pitches thrown. The Mets have the following career numbers against him:
- Tyler Naquin 2-4, 2B, BB
- Eduardo Escobar 0-2
- Darin Ruf 0-2
- Mark Canha 0-1, K
- Starling Marte 0-1
Let’s Go Mets!
