The Mets head into Pittsburgh tonight battered, but on a two game winning streak. Griffin Canning was cruising Thursday night until he had what looked like purely from his reaction, a serious ankle injury. It is the third significant injury to a starting pitcher on the Mets in the last two weeks. The bullpen picked up the game for him and allowed two hits and nothing else over 6 1/3 innings to lock down a shutout victory against the Braves.
Heading into play today the Mets are back in first place, let’s keep building momentum to close out the month of June!
David Peterson has pitched 90 2/3 innings over 15 starts for the Mets with a 2.98 ERA, 3.37 FIP, 1.235 WHIP and a 127 ERA+. He’s coming off of a rough start against the Phillies in Philly where he allowed five runs over four innings, his shortest start of the season. In his three previous starts he allowed only three runs over 23 innings, tossing at minimum seven innings per start. Peterson faced the Pirates earlier this season where he allowed two runs over six innings from five hits and three walks. The Pirates have the following career numbers against him:
- Joey Bart 1-7, 3 BB, 3 K
- Alexander Canario 0-3
- Oneil Cruz 1-3, HR, 2 K
- Henry Davis 0-4, K
- Nick Gonzalez 1-2, 2B
- Ke’Bryan Hayes 2-7, BB, K
- Spencer Horwitz 1-2, BB
- Isiah Kiner-Falefa 2-3, HR
- Andrew McCutchen 2-16, HR, 5 BB, 5 K
- Rommy Pham 0-2, K
- Bryan Reynolds 2-10, 3 K
- Jared Triolo 1-3, 2B
The Mets bats will get another look at Mitch Keller tonight. Keller has pitched 94 innings with a 4.02 ERA, 3.24 FIP, 1.223 WHIP and 104 ERA+ and somehow has managed to lose (thanks to the Pirates run scoring abilities) a league leading 10 games. He hasn’t been as sharp in his last five games allowing 17 runs, 16 earned over 30 innings (4.80 ERA, 3.44 FIP). Keller was great in his one start against the Mets this year where he allowed only two runs over seven innings while striking out eight. He took the loss in this game because the Pirates offense was only able to score one run. The Mets have the following career stats against Keller:
- Pete Alonso 0-12, 3 K
- Brett Baty 2-5, HR, BB
- Travis Jankowski 1-3, 2B
- Francisco Lindor 2-13, 5 BB, 6 K
- Starling Marte 0-2, K
- Jeff McNeil 2-15, HR, 2 K
- Brandon Nimmo 4-15, 2B, 4 K
- Juan Soto 4-10, 2B, 2 BB, K
- Tyrone Taylor 0-7, 2 K
- Luis Torrens 0-3, K
Three Things To Watch For:
- Mark Vientos. Mark Vientos comes back to the Mets tonight! Vientos has been out since June 3rd with a hamstring injury. His first five rehab games were rough at the plate, going 2-for-17 with a double and no walks. In his last two games he has gone 2-for-6 at the plate with a double and three walks.
- Ronny Mauricio. The Mets sent Jared Young down to make room for Mark Vientos, meaning that Brett Baty, Mark Vientos and Ronny Mauricio will all be on the Mets roster at the same time. Ronny currently has a three game hitting streak where he has gone 5-for-12 at the plate with a double and a home run. If he stays up with the Mets, he’s going to need consistent at bats so we’ll see how the Mets start to juggle all three infielders on the roster at the same time.
- Pete Alonso. Pete Alonso is coming off of a big night where he went 3-for-4 with a double, it was his third consecutive game with at least one hit after going 0-for-8 in the two games before this streak. His numbers against Keller leave something to be desired (0-for-12, 3 K). The Mets offense earlier this season was running through Pete Alonso. Today would be an excellent day to finally hit against Mitch Keller and keep the momentum from the last couple of days going.
Let’s Go Mets!
