The Mets look to shake off a bad weekend against the Giants as they welcome the Cleveland Guardians to Citi Field today. The Guardians are one game over .500 and in second in the American League Central, but the vibes have started to fall apart over the last couple of weeks. Two relievers, Luis Ortiz and Emmanuel Clase, are both on administrative leave due to MLB sports betting investigations. There was a chance that the Guardians were going to really tear down at the deadline, and trade players like Steven Kwan. Instead the Guardians only traded Shane Bieber and Paul Sewald.
The Mets just need to string some wins together. A strong start tonight from Sean Manaea can go a long way to help flip the vibes in Queens.
Sean Manaea has pitched 17 1/3 innings so far this season with a 2.08 ERA, 2.93 FIP, 0.865 WHIP and a 191 ERA+. He’s now pitched five innings in back-to-back starts allowing a total of two runs off five hits between those starts. He’s also reached the mid-80’s in pitch count. The next big step for Manaea is to pitch at least six innings in a game, something that only David Peterson has done recently for the Mets. The Guardians have the following career numbers against Manaea:
- Gabriel Arias 0-2, 2 K
- David Fry 0-1, BB
- Austin Hedges 0-0, BB
- Nolan Jones 2-5, K
- Steven Kwan 0-2, BB, K
- José Ramírez 3-15, 2 BB, 5 K
- Carlos Santana 5-15, 2B, 4 BB, 4 K
Slade Cecconi makes his 14th start of the season tonight for the Guardians. This will be the most starts he has had in a season and as long as he pitches one inning tonight, he’ll set a career high for major league innings pitched in a season. Over 76 1/3 innings he has a 3.77 ERA, 4.61 FIP, 1.218 WHIP and a 110 ERA+. Cecconi has been in a groove in July making four quality starts in four of five starts this month and pitching 34 1/3 innings. The Mets have the following career stats against him:
- Pete Alonso 1-2, 2B
- Francisco Lindor 1-2
- Starling Marte 0-2, K
- Jeff McNeil 1-2
- Cedric Mullins 2-4, 2B, HR, K
- Brandon Nimmo 0-2, K
- Juan Soto 0-1
- Mark Vientos 1-2, HR, K
Three Things To Watch For:
- Home runs. Cecconi has allowed 13 home runs so far this season, which is good for 1.5 HR/9. This is an improvement from last year where he allowed 16 homers over 77 innings (1.9 HR/9). The Mets have plenty of hitters who can take pitchers deep. This feels like a way to both get Cecconi out of the game early and build some momentum for Mets hitters today. As a reminder, Pete Alonso is sitting at 250 career home runs, only two home runs behind Darryl Strawberry’s franchise leading 252 homers.
- Sean Manaea. The statcast metrics for Sean Manaea look pretty positive so far. The pitchers are getting hit hard about 41% of the time, it’s happening to Manaea only 31.7% of the time. The league wide xBA is .252, Manaea’s is only .216. During the stretch run in 2024 Manaea became the Mets ace and they need that now more than ever.
- Tyler Rogers. While Helsley is the flashier trade, Rogers has absolutely dominated this season. He’s in the 100th percentile for walk% and barrel% this season (opponents are barrel-ing him only 2.0% of the time). He’s in the 99th percentile for xERA, average Exit Velocity and ground ball%. Just outstanding stuff this season.
Let’s Go Mets!
