The Mets look to win the rubber game of the series this afternoon against the Giants! The Mets bats finally woke up on Saturday scoring 12 runs off 13 hits. Demons were exorcised as the Mets went 8-for-17 with runners in scoring position and put up crooked numbers on the box score in four innings.
Today the Mets will look to get another demon haunting the team to leave. The Mets have massively struggled with starting pitchers getting through the sixth inning (except for David Peterson). Can Montas break the cycle today and give the bullpen a bit of a break?
Frankie Montas has made six starts over 29 2/3 innings with a 5.46 ERA, 4.89 FIP, 1.449 WHIP and a 71 ERA+. Montas cruised through the first four innings in his last start holding the Padres to one run. After Mark Vientos gave him the lead, the wheels fell off and he allowed two runs to score. He recorded one out, leaving two runners on for the Mets bullpen, and both of those runners scored too. Montas has shown flashes of brilliance this season and has pitched 5 2/3 innings twice. The Giants have the following career numbers against Montas:
- Willy Adames 3-10, 2B, HR, BB, 2 K
- Matt Chapman 2-8, 2B, BB, K
- Rafael Devers 6-14, 2 2B, BB
- Wilmer Flores 2-4
- Grant McCray 0-2, K
- Heliot Ramos 2-6, K
- Casey Schmitt 0-2, K
- Dominic Smith 2-5, 2B, HR
The Mets bats will get a look at Carson Whisenhunt today. The southpaw was the Giants #3 prospect according to MLB Pipeline heading into the 2025 season. He made his major league debut against the Pirates last weekend allowing four runs from five hits including a home run and two walks while striking three batters over five innings. He has a 4.42 ERA and a 1.331 WHIP over 97 2/3 innings with Sacramento (minor league, not the Athletics) this season. In his first major league start he used a low-90’s sinker slightly more than half of the time mixing in a low-80’s changeup (35% usage) and low-80’s slider (10%).
Three Things To Watch For:
- Francisco Lindor. The Mets offense needs Francisco Lindor. On Saturday Lindor went 3-for-4 with a double, four RBI, a run scored and a walk. We’ve been waiting for Lindor to breakout of his slump and hopefully Saturday’s game was it. We’ll be watching today to see if he picks up where he left off.
- Pete Alonso. Alonso has now homered in back-to-back days and now has 250 career home runs, just two behind Darryl Strawberry’s franchise leading 252. Alonso opened Saturday’s game with a homerun showing that the Mets were not going to squander opportunities with runners in scoring position. He’s been the critical bat this series, racking up 5 RBI already.
- The Bullpen is tired. Between extra innings Friday night and Senga’s early exit Saturday, every pitcher in the Mets bullpen, prior to today’s roster move, has pitched at some point this weekend with recently DFA’d Rico Garcia pitching on back-to-back days for the Mets. Luckily, Stanek, Helsley and Díaz all had Saturday off. Let’s hope Montas can give the Mets at least five innings today!
Let’s Go Mets!
