The Mets lost their offense over the weekend against the Braves and found it Monday night against the Twins. The bats exploded for 15 runs from 17 hits with every hitter in the game recording at least one hit. The Mets just fired on all cylinders. Thanks to how the other games around them ended up, the Mets finished the evening tied for the second wild car spot with the Padres and only a half game back for the first wild card spot.
Sean Manaea has made 20 starts totaling 106 innings with a 3.74 ERA, 4.17 FIP, 1.255 WHIP and a 105 ERA+. His last three starts haven’t been the greatest, allowing 10 runs from 16 hits and six walks over 16 2/3 innings. Homers have hurt him, allowing five over his last three starts (he’s only allowed 12 this season). Before this stretch he pitched five games in a row with a 1.57 ERA, 3.40 FIP. The Twins have the following career numbers against Sean:
- Byron Buxton 2-9, 2B, 2 BB, 3 K
- Willi Castro 3-6, 2B, 2 K
- Max Kepler 1-7, HR, BB, K
- Manuel Margot 2-8, 2 K
- Jose Miranda 1-3, HR, K
- Carlos Santana 4-12, 2B, 4 BB, 3 K
- Christian Vazquez 3-7, BB, 2 K
David Festa will pitch in his fourth major league game this evening. So far this season he has tossed 14 1/3 innings with a 8.16 ERA, 6.23 FIP, 1.605 WHIP and a 52 ERA+. His last outing was by far his best of the season where he held the Phillies to one run over 4 1/3 innings while striking out seven. Before that he allowed 12 runs over 10 innings across two starts. Festa had a 4.39 ERA in AA Wichita over 80 innings and a 2.92 ERA over 12 1/3 innings in AAA St. Paul. No one on the Mets roster has faced Festa before in a major league game.
Three Things To Watch For:
- Letting the Twins work their way into trouble. The Twins were doomed by a few crazy innings for the Mets, who worked seven walks Monday night. This caused the frustration to boil over for the Twins who had several long innings just hoping their pitchers can get it together. The Twins now have an over worked bullpen and will have two games in the next 24 hours against the Mets. So hopefully the Mets can just repeat what they did Monday night.
- Hitting with runners in scoring position. When the Mets were terrible in May, they couldn’t buy a hit with runners in scoring position. When the Mets were dominating in June, they constantly kept the line moving. That’s what happened Monday night with the Mets going 8-for-17 with RISP after a terrible weekend.
- Mets bullpen got the night off. As of writing, it is unknown if the Mets let Buttó go all three relief innings in Monday night’s game in order to stretch him out for a turn in the rotation. The short term impact is no one else had to do anything last night. Edwin Díaz and Phil Maton both haven’t pitched since Thursday, Danny Young hasn’t pitched since Saturday.
Let’s Go Mets!
