The Mets beat the Braves in the tenth inning on Thursday night. On paper it was a tough night for the Mets, facing a team they are chasing in the standings. The Braves had their best pitcher on the mound who already had 13 wins this season. The Mets stayed resilient all night and now find themselves only a half game behind the Braves.
Kodai Senga finally makes his 2024 debut tonight! The Mets ace heading into the season has been dealing with a triceps injury most of this season, which later got compounded with nerve inflammation. Senga was a revelation for the Mets in 2023, making 29 starts tossing 166 1/3 innings with a 2.98 ERA, 3.63 FIP, 1.220 WHIP and a 140 ERA+. He had a staggering 10.9 K/9, was named to the All-Star game in his rookie season, finished 7th in Cy Young voting and 2nd in Rookie of the Year voting. The Braves have the following career numbers against Senga:
- Brian Anderson 0-2, 2 K
- Orlando Arcia 0-2
- Adam Duvall 0-2, K
- Ramon Laureano 1-2, BB
- Whit Merrifield 1-1, 2B, BB
- Sean Murphy 0-2, 2 K
- Matt Olson 1-2, BB, K
- Marcell Ozuna 1-3, 2B
- Austin Riely 0-3, K
- Eddie Rosario 0-3
The Mets bats will face off against the ageless Charlie Morton who has tossed 103 1/3 innings over 18 starts for the Braves this season. In 2024 Morton has a 3.83 ERA, 4.05 FIP, 1.219 WHIP and a 108 ERA+. He’s coming off of a strong start against the Cardinals where he allowed one unearned run over six innings. His last five game ERA of 3.64 only tells part of the story. He has two games where he has allowed no earned runs, and then three games where he could not get a quality start.
Morton has faced the Mets twice already this year, and the two starts were quite different. At Citi Field the Mets scored four times off five hits and five walks. In May, in Atlanta, the Mets only mustered one run over seven innings. The Mets have the following career numbers against Morton:
- Pete Alonso 7-30, 2 2B, 4 BB, 7 K
- Francisco Alvarez 2-13, HR, 4 K
- Harrison Bader 0-4, K
- Ben Gamel 2-8, HR, BB, K
- José Iglesias 2-3, 2B, K
- Francisco Lindor 7-47, 3 2B, 2 HR, 2 BB, 13 K
- J.D. Martinez 13-39, 2 2B, HR, BB, 13 K
- Jeff McNeil 6-28, 2 HR, 4 BB, 7 K
- Brandon Nimmo 7-29, HR, 5 BB, 12 K
- DJ Stewart 2-7, 2 2B, 3 BB, 2 K
- Tyrone Taylor 1-4, BB, K
- Mark Vientos 2-3
Three Things To Watch For:
- Ghost fork! Kodai Senga’s signature pitch returns to the major league’s tonight. We can have debate later if it’s more of a splitter than a forkball. His ghost fork has some serious movement that is just exciting to watch. I cannot wait to see everyone sharing videos on social media of the ghost fork overlayed with his fastball.
- Francisco Lindor is on another planet. Over his last four games Lindor has gone 7-for-18 at the plate with five homeruns and 10 RBI’s. He is slashing a ridiculous .389/.450/1.278. After yesterday’s game he hit 5.0 WAR for the season. Keep showing the world why you are the best shortstop in baseball Francisco!
- Jeff McNeil. Thursday night was McNeil’s third game in a row with two hits. He also had the walk-off single Thursday night. Over his last nine games McNeil is 12-for-31 with four doubles, four homers, seven runs scored and 12 RBI’s (out of the 33 he has on the season). What a comeback for McNeil.
Let’s Go Mets!
