The Mets have an important ten game stretch starting tonight where they play the Braves, the Phillies and then the Braves again. The Mets look to shake off a rough weekend against the Rays. The Mets lost a massive lead in the first game, left runners on in the second game and just got overwhelmed on Sunday.
This is also a huge stretch of games for the Braves who are eight games below .500 and need two strong series against the Mets to restart their season. They are coming off of a winning series against the Rockies, but they lost Sunday 10-1.
David Peterson looks to right the ship tonight in Atlanta. Over 79 2/3 innings he has a 2.49 ERA, 3.03 FIP, 1.192 WHIP and a 153 ERA+ (all career bests). He’s coming off of the strongest start of his career – a complete game shutout against the Nationals, holding them to six hits and only needing 106 pitches to get it done. It was his third game in his last four where he pitched at least seven innings and his sixth in his last seven games going at least six innings. Peterson faced Atlanta once in 2024 allowing four runs over five innings while striking out seven batters. The Braves have the following career numbers against him:
- Ronald Acuña Jr. 5-18, 2B, HR, 5 BB, 6 K
- Ozzie Albies 2-12, K
- Stuart Fairchild 1-4
- Michael Harris II 1-10, 2B, 4 K
- Sean Murphy 0-4, K
- Matt Olson 4-16, 4 HR, 3 BB, 8 K
- Marcell Ozuna 3-17, 2 HR, BB, 6 K
- Austin Riley 9-23, 3 2B, 3 BB, 7 K
- Alex Verdugo 0-3, BB, 2 K
- Luke Williams 1-8, 3 K
The Mets bats will get a look at Spencer Schwellenbach, who is also making his first start since pitching a complete game. In Schwellenbach’s last start he allowed two runs from five hits while striking out nine over nine innings against the Brewers. This season he has pitched 89 2/3 innings with a 3.11 ERA, 3.18 FIP, 1.004 WHIP and a 131 ERA+. Schwellenbach this season has either been great or bad. In his last five starts, he either allowed two runs or fewer (twice) or four runs (three times).
Schwellenbach unfortunately put up tremendous numbers against the Mets in 2024, holding the Mets to two runs, scattering nine hits and a walk over 21 innings while striking out 20. The Mets have the following career stats against Schwellenbach:
- Luisangel Acuña 0-2
- Pete Alonso 2-8, 2B, BB, 2 K
- Francisco Alvarez 0-5, K
- Francisco Lindor 0-6
- Starling Marte 0-3
- Jeff McNeil 1-3, 2B
- Brandon Nimmo 0-9, 3 BB
- Tyrone Taylor 2-6, 2B, 2 K
- Luis Torrens 0-2, 2 K
Three Things To Watch For:
- The Acuña Brothers. Last September Ronald and Luisangel did a jersey swap to celebrate both being on major league rosters at the same time. This week is the first time both brothers may play each other in an official major league game. Ronald is back from rehabbing a major knee injury and is picking up right where he left off slashing .390/.478/.701 (1.179 OPS, 226 OPS+) over his first 21 games and is worth 1.6 bWAR already. Stealing bases is the only the thing he hasn’t really tried yet, only stealing one since returning. Luisangel has made an impact with his glove and on the bases for the Mets with 11 stolen bases this season. He’s also coming off of a solid game where he went 2-for-3 at the plate with a walk.
- The top of the Mets lineup. When the top of the lineup hits, the Mets generally do great things. Sunday was characteristically off day for the Mets one-through-four hitters, going a combined 1-for-14 with three walks (all walks from Soto). Hopefully the travel day allowed the Mets to clear their head and come back tonight renewed and refreshed.
- Juan Soto is on pace to crush the Mets walk record. John Olerud set a franchise record for walks in 1999 with 125. He played every game that season and had 5.6 bWAR. Soto has a major league leading 60 walks right now, or about 0.845 walks per game played. Over an entire season that is about 135 walks. That wouldn’t even be a career best for Soto who had 135 walks in 2022 and 145 walks in 2021.
Let’s Go Mets!
