The Mets head into the most important seven games of their season starting tonight. Four games at home against the Phillies. Three games on the road against the Braves. The Mets are coming off of a three game sweep against the Nationals where the Mets bats finally came to life over the last two nights, scoring 20 runs. Everyone in the wild card race won yesterday so entering play today the Braves are still two games out, the Diamondbacks and the Mets are still tied, and the Padres are still 2.5 games on top.
The Phillies are coming off of a loss against the Brewers on Wednesday. Before the game started the Brewers clinched the NL Central due to a Cubs loss. The Phillies had an playoff elimination number of one, so if the Phillies won on Wednesday, both teams would have been been celebrating on the field. So Phillies, searching for one more win and a place to celebrate, come to Queens.
Luis Severino has pitched 172 innings with a 3.77 ERA, 4.21 FIP, 1.227 WHIP and a 104 ERA+. Severino is coming off of an average start against the Phillies where the scored three runs over six innings thanks to two home runs. In his last six games he has pitched 38 1/3 innings with a 2.35 ERA, 3.38 FIP. The Phillies have the following career numbers against Severino:
- Nick Castellanos 6-18, BB, 3 K
- Kody Clemens 0-4, K
- Bryce Harper 2-3, 2 HR, K
- Brandon Marsh 0-2
- J.T. Realmuto 0-2, K
- Kyle Schwarber 2-7, 2 2B, 2 K
- Cal Stevenson 1-2
- Bryson Stott 0-2
- Trea Turner 0-2, BB, K
Taijuan Walker returns to the Phillies rotation tonight to take on his old team. Walker has had a rough season battling injuries. On top of that he has a 6.29 ERA, 6.34 FIP, 1.627 WHIP and a 65 ERA+. His only scoreless outing of the season happened his last time out – which was against the Mets. In relief he held the Mets to three hits and nothing else over three innings. Since returning to the Mets on August 13th he has pitched 25 2/3 innings with a 7.71 ERA, 7.46 FIP (including his scoreless outing against the Mets).
Walker has pitched in three games against the Mets this season allowing only four runs over 12 innings. The Mets have the following career numbers against Walker:
- Luisangel Acuña 1-2
- Pete Alonso 3-15, 2 2B, HR, 2 BB, 3 K
- Eddy Alvarez 0-2, BB, K
- Francisco Alvarez 0-5, 2 K
- Harrison Bader 0-7, 2 K
- José Iglesias 4-12, 2B, BB
- Francisco Lindor 2-20, 2 BB, 4 K
- Starling Marte 3-9, BB
- J.D. Martinez 7-18, 2B, HR, BB, 5 K
- Brandon Nimmo 3-12, 2B, HR, 2 BB, 3 K
- Tyrone Taylor 1-7, 4 K
- Luis Torrens 1-4
- Mark Vientos 1-3
Three Things To Watch For:
- Luisangel Acuña. Acuña continued his amazing first week of baseball Wednesday night going 2-for-4 at the plate with a home run. It was his second multi-hit game and his second straight game with a home run (5-for-8, 2B, 2 HR, 5 R). He’s getting on base, he’s scoring runs, he’s hitting with power. What a time for Acuña to make his major league debut! Tonight he will face Walker again, so for the first time we’ll see how a team makes adjustments in their approach to Acuña.
- Big Innings. The last two games the Mets have had several big innings. On Tuesday they had a four run and a three run inning. Wednesday night they had a nine run inning. Hopefully the Mets can have a big inning or two tonight to set the tone for the entire series.
- Scoreboard Watching. UPDATE WITH THE 1pm BRAVES GAME. The Diamondbacks start a series with the Brewers tonight, the day after the Brewers celebrated their back-to-back AL Central titles. The Brewers are keeping up with their regularly scheduled starting pitcher tonight, Tobias Myers, who has a 135 ERA+ over 23 starts. Brandon Pfaadt gets the start for the Diamondbacks. Pfaadt has a 10.23 ERA over his last five starts but who knows what the state of the Brewers lineup will be today.
Let’s Go Mets!
