The Mets look to rebound after the Padres snapped the Mets seven game winning streak Monday night.
Monday’s game was a back and forth affair with a home run robbery, a grand slam by Mark Vientos, a Mets comeback and eventual Padres walk-off in the ninth inning. Both teams had meltdowns at different points of the game leading to crooked numbers on the scoreboard. In the background of all the excitement on the field though was a particularly noticeable ump show. The home plate umpire made four questionable calls early in the game to Brandon Nimmo and Juan Soto that led to Soto and the umpire exchanging words before Mendoza got involved (and eventually ejected). This continued throughout the game with another questionable call to Soto in seventh inning. It felt like a playoff atmosphere Monday night, what will tonight bring?
Sean Manaea makes his third start of the season tonight for the Mets. Over his three outings he has pitched 12 1/3 innings with a 2.19 ERA, 3.49 FIP, 0.973 WHIP and a 179 ERA+. In his last start he pitched five innings allowing only one earned run, his longest outing yet in the majors in 2025. The Mets have steadily increased his pitch total from 65 in his first outing in relief, to 69 to 82 last week. Manaea had a strong outing against the Padres last season where he held them to one run from four hits and a walk over five innings. The Padres have the following career numbers against him:
- Luis Arráez 4-9, HR, K
- Xander Bogaerts 7-15, 2 2B, HR, 3 BB, 4 K
- Jake Cronenworth 2-10, 2B, BB, 2 K
- Elias Díaz 2-11, HR
- Jose Iglesias 5-14, 2B, 2 K
- Bryce Johnson 0-2
- Manny Machado 7-19, 3 2B, BB, 4 K
- Martin Maldonado 7-21, 2 2B, 3B, HR, 6 K
- Jackson Merrill 1-2, HR
- Gavin Sheets 1-3
- Fernando Tatis Jr. 2-14, BB, 6 K
Rookie Ryan Bergert gets the start tonight for the Padres to give Yu Darvish and extra day of rest. Over 10 games in the majors Bergert has pitched 31 2/3 innings with a 2.84 ERA, 4.26 FIP, 1.137 WHIP and a 149 ERA+. In his last two major league starts he has allowed five runs from eight hits over 7 2/3 innings. Bergert started his major league career with four pristine innings of relief only allowing a hit and nothing else. In two of his six starts he’s held his opponents scoreless.
Three Things To Watch For:
- Everyone’s Emotions. Monday night felt like a playoff game. The park was packed, there were plenty of Mets fans in attendance and the crowd was into everything from the first pitch. There were amazing defensive plays, incredible defensive blunders, bad calls, a hit batsman, a comebacker that knocked Cease in the head, a manager got ejected and a walk-off hit. Things were intense – but it was just a regular season game at the end of July. The Mets are at their best when they play at their own pace and do their own thing. Let’s take a deep breath before tonight’s game.
- Hitting with runners in scoring position. The Mets were so effective over the weekend preventing the Giants from doing anything with runners in scoring position (0-for-23). Monday night the Padres went 7-for-15 with runners in scoring position. The Mets on the other hand went 1-for-7 with RISP Monday Night, although that one hit was pretty grand.
- Strikeouts. Related to going 1-for-7 with RISP Monday night, the Mets struck out 15 times with Nimmo, Lindor and Soto each striking out three times (although some of that was umpire assisted). The Padres have the best bullpen by ERA in majors (3.03) and have struck out 386 batters (10th in the majors). For context, the Mets bullpen has 416 strikeouts (6th) and has a 3.72 ERA (tied for 7th). The Mets may be able to push Ryan Bergert out early tonight since he doesn’t often go deep into games, but can the Mets respond to the Padres bullpen?
Let’s Go Mets!
