The Mets continue to rack up the injuries. Early in the game last night Taijuan Walker left with side tightness. Sean Reid-Foley was able to step in for a solid relief outing and is a big reason why the Mets won the game, but Sean was probably going to be a major factor in tonight’s game.
The more worrisome injury happened later in the night when Kevin Pillar was hit by a pitch in the face. He walked off on his own accord but it was scary, for both teams, for everyone watching the sport where pitchers are throwing now with more velocity and less control.
On a tactical side, this means the Mets the are now without Conforto, Nimmo, Almora Jr., Pillar, McNeil, J.D. Davis, all who can play outfield. They are also without Luis Guillorme and have been without Jose Martinez all season. And these are just position player injuries. The Mets are currently in a 40-man roster crunch with so many players on the 10-day IL.
As of writing this, the Mets have not announced a starter for the tonight. This is going to be a bullpen game and looking at the Mets bullpen usage in recent games it is safe to assume that Joey Lucchesi and Tommy Hunter will both see time in today’s game. From the Mets perspective, they are hoping to get 5 innings from them together and then they can patch together the rest of the game from the normal bullpen. Hunter has thrown 6.0 scoreless innings for the Mets over 3 games this season, allowing 4 hits and 2 walks and nothing else. Every outing has been exactly two innings and his longest outing in terms of pitches was 3 days ago where he tossed 38. Joey Lucchesi has a 9.19 ERA over 15.2 innings so far this season. The first time he was used as a bulk pitcher it went well, he allowed 1 unearned run over 3.1 innings. Last time he allowed 4 earned runs over 1.2 innings.
The Mets bats will get a look at Tucker Davidson tonight, who is pitching in the majors for the first time in 2021. His one major league game on record came in late September last year. He pitched against the Red Sox and allowed 7 runs, 2 earned, over 1.2 innings from 3 hits and 4 walks while striking out 2. In the minors this season he has made two starts, pitching 14.0 innings, allowing only 1 run from 7 hits and 3 walks while striking out 14. Neither start was against the Syracuse Mets so no one on the Mets roster has seen Davidson in either a major league game or a minor league game this season.
Let’s Go Mets!
