The Reds and Diamondbacks both won against last night, so both teams are clinging to their tie on the third wild card spot. Meanwhile the Marlins are only half a game behind them. Giants have now lost three games in a row, fall to 2.5 games out of the last spot. But there’s even more drama! The Cubs have lost four games in a row and now only have a half game lead on the second wild card spot. The Mets can continue being agents of chaos as they finish up their series with the Reds this afternoon before taking on the Marlins next.
José Quintana makes his 11th start of the season this afternoon. Over 59 innings he has a 3.05 ERA, 3.19 FIP, 1.271 WHIP and a 137 ERA+. In his last three starts he has pitched 18 innings allowing only three runs from 12 hits and six walks while striking out 13 (1.50 ERA, 2.82 FIP). Seven of his 10 starts this year have been quality starts. Out of three starts that weren’t quality, only one of them was a poor start. The Reds have the following career numbers against Quintana:
- Joey Votto 13-24, 4 2B, HR, K
- Hunter Renfroe 4-13, 2 HR, 4 K, 2 BB
- Nick Senzel 5-15
- Harrison Bader 4-9, 2B, 2 K, BB
- Jonathan India 1-6, K
- Spencer Street 0-3, K
- Nick Martini 0-1
The Mets bats look to bounce back this afternoon against Brandon Williamson. Williamson has made 20 starts so far in his rookie season tossing 102 2/3 innings with a 4.47 ERA, 4.57 FIP, 1.276 WHIP and a 103 ERA+. He’s hit a rough patch of late, allowing 14 runs, 12 earned, over his last four starts (21 2/3 innings) from 28 hits. This stretch includes an amazing game where he allowed no runs over six innings. This will be Brandon’s first start against the Mets in his career.
Three Things To Watch For:
- Quintana’s ERA. There’s a chance that Quintana can finish today’s start with an ERA below 3.00. Kodai Senga just reached this mark earlier this week. Going into this season we were imagining a rotation anchored with Scherzer and Verlander with sub-3 ERA’s. While that didn’t materialize, and Quintana’s return to the Mets was a little too late to help them out this year, both his success and Kodai’s gets us excited thinking about 2024.
- Mets bats to convert baserunners into runs. Last night the Mets collected eight hits and had four walks, but only two runs. We are hoping today the Mets can rack up just as many hits as yesterday, maybe even more, but they are more timely and actually push runners across the plate. Several big names in the Mets lineup (Nimmo, Alonso, McNeil) yesterday combined to go 0-for-12 with two walks.
- Milestone Check. There are lots of milestones still on the horizon for the Mets. Lindor is still sitting at 26 homers and 26 stolen bases on the season as time ticks down to reach 30-30. Pete Alonso has five more home runs to go until 50. Brandon Nimmo and Francisco Álvarez each have two more home runs to go for 25 on the season.
Let’s Go Mets!
