The Mets look to bounce back from a frustrating loss and take the series victory against the Diamondbacks this afternoon.
Last night’s game was always penciled in to be the tough game for the Mets game in the series, but it ended up being difficult for completely different reason. The Mets used Brandon Waddell as a bulk pitcher to give their starters an extra day of rest and he was tremendous – keeping the Diamondbacks scoreless over 4 1/3 innings. The Mets bats had to deal with Corbin Burnes and were able to make him work, but just couldn’t get runs. Last weekend we saw that every time the Mets fell, they picked themselves right back up, hopefully today is more of the same.
Kodai Senga looks to continue his tremendous season with his sixth start. Over five starts, 28 2/3 innings, Senga has a 1.26 ERA, 2.83 FIP, 1.047 WHIP and a 310 ERA+. He’s been so good that allowing two runs in his last start raised his seasonal ERA by almost half a run. Senga faced the Diamondbacks twice in 2023 and held them to only one run over 14 innings while striking out 22 batters. The Diamondbacks have the following career numbers against him:
- Corbin Carroll 1-6, 3 K
- Randal Grichuk 1-5, 2 K
- Lourdes Gurriel Jr. 0-5, 3 K
- Garrett Hampson 0-3, BB, 3 K
- Gabriel Moreno 0-2, K
- Geraldo Perdomo 1-6, K
- Eugenio Suárez 0-3, 3 K
- Alek Thomas 0-5, 2 K
Which Zac Gallen will the Mets see today? The long time ace of the Diamondbacks has made six starts totaling 32 1/3 innings with a 5.57 ERA, 4.41 FIP, 1.392 WHIP and a 75 ERA+. He has made one tremendous start this season, his second start of the season in the Bronx, keeping the Yankees scoreless over 6 2/3 innings while striking out 13 batters. Since then he has allowed 16 runs over 21 2/3 innings from 23 hits and 11 walks (6.65 ERA, 5.48 FIP). Last season Gallen only tossed six pitches against the Mets before leaving the game with hamstring strain. The Mets have the following career stats against Gallen:
- Pete Alonso 4-14, 2B, 2 BB, 6 K
- José Azócar 1-4, 2B, K
- Francisco Lindor 3-10, 2B, BB, K
- Starling Marte 0-2, 2 BB, K
- Jeff McNeil 3-16, 2B, 4 K
- Brandon Nimmo 1-7, 2B, BB, K
- Juan Soto 4-22, 2B, HR, 2 BB, 5 K
- Tyrone Taylor 1-5, 2B, BB, K
- Luis Torrens 1-3, 2B
- Mark Vientos 1-3, HR, K
- Jesse Winker 1-2, BB
Three Things To Watch For:
- An old foe returns. The Mets struggled with runners in scoring position earlier in the season. That returned in a frustrating way last night with the Mets going 0-for-10 with runners in scoring position leaving 13 batters on base. There was a bit of bad luck (hard hit outs, an unreviewable play). The Mets have shown before that if they collect the hits and the walks, eventually they’ll score.
- Tyrone Taylor. How important has Taylor been over the last couple of days for the Mets? On Monday he made the catch of the year and last night he opened the game with a tremendous catch. He went 3-for-4 at the plate last night including a stolen base and a solo homerun that started the rally in the 9th inning. In this series he has gone 5-for-8!
- Juan Soto. There is one glaring difference on Juan Soto’s Baseball Savant page from last year to this year – Barrel%. Juan Soto is still in the top of the league in squaring up the ball, chasing, striking out, walking and average exit velocity. Last season he was in the 99th percentile for for Barrel% and in the middle of the league for launch angle sweet-spot (which was new for him, he’s usually in the bottom third there). This season he is in the 30th percentile for Barrel%. This will change at some point.
Let’s Go Mets!
