The Mets try to take the series against the Tigers today! Monday was a back-and-forth affair ending in a 10-8 win. Juan Soto was the hero hitting his first grand slam as a Met and ending the day with six RBI’s! The Mets are still searching for consistent starting pitching performance and today they turn to the only person who has won his first three games as a Mets pitcher, the only pitcher to do that in Mets history – Nolan McLean!
Nolan McLean has pitched 20 1/3 innings over three starts this season allowing only two runs while scattering ten hits and striking out 21 batters. He has a small-sample size 0.89 ERA, 2.44 FIP and 0.689 WHIP over his three game career. In his last start he allowed no runs over eight innings against a mighty Phillies lineup. The vibes have completely changed since McLean came up to the majors, hopefully he keeps that going today!
The Tigers are recalling Sawyer Gipson-Long for tonight’s game. Over six games and 25 innings this season he has a 4.32 ERA, 4.21 FIP, 1.040 WHIP and a 98 ERA+. Gipson-Long has pitched in 12 games across three minor league levels this season totaling 39 2/3 innings with a 3.63 ERA and a 1.084 WHIP. He’s gone as high as 77 pitches in a game this season (June 27th) and has most recently tossed 70 pitches on August 19th, so he probably can go at least three innings, max five innings tonight. The only player on the Mets to face him in a major league game is Cedric Mullins (0-for-2).
Three Things To Watch For:
- Juan Soto, the hero. For the third time in four games, Juan Soto had a multi-hit game on Monday. He now has four home runs and 11 RBI’s in the last four games while scoring seven runs. With 36 home runs on the season, he has a solid chance of surpassing his career-high 41 home runs he hit last season. We’ll be watching if the Tigers approach him differently today after Monday’s monster game.
- Mets bullpen. The Mets bullpen had to use all the big arms on Monday (Soto, Rogers, Helsley, Díaz). The Mets pitching struggles have been two-fold over the last month. Their veteran starters have collectively fallen apart and their several major relievers have had difficulties pitching clean innings. Díaz looked great on Monday needing only 11 pitches to record four outs. More of that today please!
- Scoreboard Watching. Monday wasn’t the best day for the Mets as the Phillies, Reds and Cubs all had wins. The Mets enter play today six games behind the Phillies and four games ahead of the Reds. With the Padres losing on Monday, the Mets are now only two games behind the second wild card spot. The Reds play the Blue Jays today and it’s a good pitching matchup with Nick Lodolo going up against José Berríos. The Phillies have the rare mid-series day off, and resume their series in Milwaukee tomorrow.
Let’s Go Mets!
