What a night for the New York Mets! The offense roared to life on Tuesday, beating the Nationals 10-1. Pete Alonso had five RBI’s. Luisangel Acuña had a breakout game going 3-for-4 with a double and a home run. Even better for the Mets, the Braves, Diamondbacks and Padres all lost. The Mets are now tied with the Diamondbacks for the second wild card spot, but because they have the tie breaker, they are in second. They are only 2.5 games out of the top spot. The Braves are two games out of any spot. Let’s keep the sweep tonight and keep pushing!
Jose Quintana has pitched 159 innings this season with a 3.91 ERA, 4.76 FIP, 1.270 WHIP and a 100 ERA+. In his last four starts he has allowed only two runs, one earned, over 25 innings scattering 18 hits and seven walks (0.36 ERA, 2.73 FIP). Quintana had two, excellent, back-to-back starts against the Nationals in July holding them scoreless over 14 innings. If you start Quintana’s season on that first Nationals start, he has a 3.18 ERA and a 4.59 FIP. The Nationals have the following career numbers against Quintana:
- CJ Abrams 0-8, K
- Joey Gallo 2-7, HR, 2 BB, 3 K
- Luis Garcia Jr. 2-4, 2B, K
- Keibert Ruiz 1-8
- Ildemaro Vargas 1-8, 3 K
- James Wood 1-5, BB
- Juan Yepez 0-4, BB, K
- Jacob Young 1-7, 2B, BB, 3 K
The Mets face another rookie starting pitcher this evening. Over 80 1/3 innings DJ Herz has a 3.70 ERA, 3.74 FIP, 1.207 WHIP and a 109 ERA+. Herz is coming off back-to-back strong starts allowing one run over 10 innings. He’s really turned a corner in his last 10 starts, pitching with a 2.76 ERA, 3.58 FIP with only a few bad games. What he doesn’t do though is go deep into games – and the Nationals needed to go into the bullpen early Tuesday night.
Herz made his major league debut against the Mets at the start of June and allowed four runs from seven hits over four innings. His next start against the Mets was much better, holding them to one run from five hits while striking out 10 batters (his only double digit strikeout game this year). The Mets have the following career numbers against Herz:
- Pete Alonso 2-6, 2 K
- Francisco Alvarez 1-2, K
- Harrison Bader 1-4, HR, 2 K
- José Iglesias 1-4, 2B, K
- Francisco Lindor 3-6, 2B, HR
- Starling Marte 0-1, BB
- J.D. Martinez 0-2, K
- Brandon Nimmo 1-3, BB, K
- Tyrone Taylor 0-2, K
- Luis Torrens 1-2, 2B, K
- Mark Vientos 1-5, 2 K
Three Things To Watch For:
- José Iglesias again. Iglesias has been on a tear recently. He has four multi-hit games in his last five (10-for-22). Tuesday night he went 3-for-4 and because the offense was clicking behind him he actually scored twice. During his 11 game hitting streak he has gone 17-for-40 hitting .425/.465/.475. He only has two extra-base hits, but it doesn’t matter if the players behind him are hitting.
- Is the Polar Bear coming out of hibernation? Since September 3rd Pete Alonso has gone 14-for45 with two doubles, three homers slashing .311/.407/.556 raising his OPS from .791 to .805. More importantly to the Mets, he has 10 of 86 RBI’s this season during that stretch, including five RBI’s last night. If there ever was a time to get hot, it’s right now!
- Luisangel Acuña. How does Acuña follow up his amazing Citi Field debut? Acuña went 2-for-4 during his major league debut over the weekend and then went hitless the next game. Tuesday night he was a sensation, getting his first extra-base hit and RBI right after making an error that led to a run. Later he put an exclamation point on the night with a solo shot. Every time he got on base (three times) he came around to score. This is the spark the Mets need!
Let’s Go Mets!
