The only way for the Braves to retake first place this series was to win all five games – and that’s now impossible!
The Mets took the opener last night 6-4 thanks to muscle and Edwin Díaz. Pete Alonso and Vogelbach went back to back while Naquin had his best game as a Met hitting two homers. Díaz recorded a six out save to shut the door! We are fairly confident this means Díaz will be unavailable tonight, but it should mean that he’s good to go for one of the two games on Saturday.
The Mets have a real opportunity to push Atlanta back a bit in the standings taking last night’s success through the weekend. Taijuan Walker will look to do just that tonight on the mound. Over 18 starts and 103 1/3 innings, Walker has a 2.79 ERA, 3.35 FIP, 1.132 WHIP and a 143 ERA+. In his last two starts he has allowed six runs over 11 2/3 innings (4.63 ERA) from 14 hits and three walks.
Tonight will be Walker’s first start against the Braves this season. Last year he made three starts totaling 13 innings with a 3.46 ERA. The Braves have the following career numbers against him:
- Robbie Grossman 5-13, 2B, HR, BB, 2 K
- Marcell Ozuna 1-5, 2B, 2 BB, K
- Ozzie Albies 1-4, 2 BB, 2 K
- Austin Riley 3-6, HR, K
- Dansby Swanson 0-6, K
- Adam Duvall 0-5
- Matt Olson 0-5, BB, K
- Ronald Acuna Jr. 1-4, 2 K
- Eddie Rosario 0-3, K
- Ehire Adrianza 0-2, 2 K
The Mets bats look to keep their offense alive against Ian Anderson tonight. Over 20 starts and 101 innings, Anderson has a 4.99 ERA, 4.23 FIP, 1.505 WHIP and an 85 ERA+. He also leads the league in walks at 49 – a stat that is hopefully not lost on a Mets team that knows how to work a count. There were four starts in July where Anderson was great. Over those four starts he allowed four runs over 21 2/3 innings. This includes his last start where he allowed no runs and only a hit over six innings against the Cardinals. However, on July 24th, Anderson allowed seven runs from eight hits in three innings against the Angels. The vast majority of Anderson’s games this year fall into two categories. They were either great or terrible – very few in between games.
Anderson’s one start against the Mets this year was one of his better starts. He held the Mets to only one run over 5 1/3 innings despite allowing five hits and walking four batters. The Mets have the following numbers against him:
- Starling Marte 2-10, 3 BB, 2 K
- Francisco Lindor 1-9, 2 BB, K
- Pete Alonso 2-10, 2B, K
- James McCann 5-9, 2B, HR, BB, K
- Jeff McNeil 0-9, 2 K
- Brandon Nimmo 0-3, 3 BB, 2 K
- Darin Ruf 1-4, 2 BB, K
- Tyler Naquin 1-4, 2B, BB, K
- Eduardo Escobar 1-2, 2B, BB
- Daniel Vogelbach 1-3, K
Let’s Go Mets!
