Game Preview: Mets @ Guardians

The Mets look to bounce back from Monday’s lackluster loss as they take on the Guardians in game two of their three game set. With a 6:10 start time on Monday night, the Guardians wrapped the Mets up by an early 8:30 PM. The Mets pitching was there but the bats evaporated again after being a force the previous two games.

On paper tonight’s matchup could be much of the opposite with Houser (7.44 ERA) taking on Carrasco (5.16 ERA). Could be a long night!

Adrian Houser returns to the Mets rotation after a short stint in the bullpen. Overall this season he has pitched 32 2/3 innings with a 7.44 ERA, 5.20 FIP, 1.837 WHIP and a 52 ERA+. Compared to 2023, Houser is walking a lot more (2.7 to 6.3 BB/9) while striking out a lot less (7.8 to 4.7 K/9). Luckily, he’s keeping the ball in the park more (1.1 to 0.6 HR/9), otherwise his wayward ERA would be way worse. Houser has the following career numbers against the Guardians:

  • Gabriel Arias 0-1, K
  • David Fry 1-1
  • Andrés Giménez 0-2, K
  • Josh Naylor 0-2, K
  • José Ramírez 0-1, 2 BB

The Mets bats will get to face an old friend tonight in Carlos Carrasco. Carrasco came to the Mets with Francisco Lindor and had 5.02 ERA, 4.40 FIP over 49 games across two seasons for the Mets. He now finds himself back in Cleveland, a club he spent 11 seasons with before joining the Mets. This season he has made nine starts totaling 45 1/3 innings with a 5.16 ERA, 5.33 FIP, 1.456 WHIP and a 74 ERA+. He’s also leading the league in wild pitches at four. The Mets have the following career numbers against him:

  • Harrison Bader 0-2
  • J.D. Martinez 10-27, 2 2B, 2 HR, BB, 4 K
  • Omar Narváez 4-15, 2B, 3 BB, 4 K
  • Tyrone Taylor 0-4, K

Three Things To Watch For:

  1. Pete Alonso has been heating up for two weeks now. On May 6th Pete Alonso came into a game as a substitution and went 0-for-1 at the plate dropping his line for the season to .205/.293/.417. Since then he has played in 12 games going 16-for-51 at the plate with six doubles and two homers, hitting .314/.352/.549 over that stretch, thus raising his season line to .235/.309/.454.
  2. Mets pitchers walk a lot, but they also strikeout a lot. Mets pitchers lead the league in walks allowed out 207. You know this. The whole world knows this. The next closest team is the Marlins with 191. The Mets pitchers though are also 7th in strikeouts at 420, just one strikeout behind the Dodgers (421) and a few behind the Yankees (424). When this team starts firing on all cylinders, they have the potential to make a Wild Card run.
  3. Mets batters struck out too much last night. Here’s something that surprised me, Mets batters are 25th for strikeouts (with #1 striking out the most). Mets batters have struck out 366 times this year (Seattle leads the league with 486). It feels like the Mets strikeout numbers should be higher because of games like Monday night where everyone (literally every starter except Nido) strikes out. The Mets had 11K’s last night with Brett Baty’s 0-for-4, three punch-out night leading the way. If the Mets strikeout numbers dip tonight, they’re probably having a better night.

Let’s Go Mets!

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