The Mets look to snap their losing streak tonight. The bats have gone mostly silent for the Mets over the last week who have lost four of their last five games and are in their first collective rut of the season. The Mets had chances Monday night, but went 1-for-8 with runners in scoring position leaving six runners on base. Further, the Mets hit into three double plays Monday night, which easily erased their eight hits and 11 walks. The Mets bats seem a bit out of sync and hopefully tonight they can click back into gear.
Clay Holmes has pitched 48 2/3 innings (nine starts) this season with a 3.14 ERA, 3.10 FIP, 1.253 WHIP and a 124 ERA+. Holmes is coming off of a start where he allowed four runs over six innings, in a game where the Mets couldn’t score any runs. He has a three game streak of pitching exactly six innings, which was the big knock on his game at the start of the season. The only new concern is that he allowed three homeruns across his last two starts after allowing no home runs in his previous seven starts. The Red Sox have the following career numbers against Holmes:
- Wilyer Abreu 1-2, 2B, BB
- Alex Bregman 2-5
- Rafael Devers 1-5, BB
- Jarren Duran 0-4, 2 K
- David Hamilton 0-3, K
- Caddanne Rafaela 0-3, BB
- Rob Refsnyder 0-2, K
- Trevor Story 0-5
- Abraham Toro 0-1, K
- Connor Wong 1-3, 2B, K
The Red Sox expect Walker Buehler to return from the injured list tonight. Before his right shoulder injury, Buehler made six starts totaling 33 2/3 innings with a 4.28 ERA, 4.29 FIP, 1.218 WHIP and a 98 ERA+. The last time he faced the Mets was in the NLCS where he shutout them out over four innings, limited the Mets to only three hits while striking out six. The Mets have the following career stats against him:
- Pete Alonso 5-16, 4 HR, 2 K
- Francisco Alvarez 0-2, 2 K
- Francisco Lindor 1-4, HR, K
- Starling Marte 2-7, 2 2B, BB, 2 K
- Jeff McNeil 1-9, BB, 2 K
- Brandon Nimmo 3-12, 3B, 2 BB, K
- Juan Soto 4-17, 2 BB, 3 K
- Tyrone Taylor 1-3, 2B, BB
- Luis Torrens 0-3, K
- Mark Vientos 1-2, K
Three Things To Watch For:
- Francisco Lindor. The Mets need their sparkplug back! Lindor has gone 1-for-22 at the plate in his last six games (.045/.154/.091) and the Mets as a team have won only two of those games. He is hitless in his last two games. Before this cold streak, Lindor went 11-for-23 over four games. Hopefully tonight is the start of another hot streak.
- Bad Luck. Outside of a Soto single that would have been a home run at one other ball park, the batted balls for the Mets more or less fell as expected. Sunday night was another story for the Mets. The Mets hit five balls Sunday night that were outs with an expected batting average of .410 or better. This included a flyout from Pete Alonso that would have been a home run at three ball parks. These are the type of at bats that can prolong slumps, but also are the type of at bats that show the hitter is going to hit their way out of it.
- Defense. Defense. Monday night was an adventure for Pete Alonso who had the yips early in the game and then made a terrific play later in the game. Part of Clay Holmes success this year has been ground balls. Batters are hitting grounders 52.9% of the time, good for the 85th percentile. The Mets fielding will need to be on point tonight for Holmes to have a successful night.
Let’s Go Mets!
