The Mets go for the sweep this afternoon against the Yankees!
The Mets had a massive 12-6 victory on Saturday extending their current winning streak to four games. For a second straight game the Mets hit three home runs and the bullpen was able to hold the Yankees offense off just enough to lock down the game. Now the Mets will try to do the improbable, get the win against the Yankees ace while pitching a bullpen game.
Chris Devenski gets the start for the Mets this afternoon. Devenski pitched Saturday facing two batters, allowing a hit and getting a groundout while throwing only five pitches. Over 5 1/3 innings this season he has a 3.38 ERA, 1.78 FIP, 0.938 WHIP and a 121 ERA+.
Devenski will be followed by Brandon Waddell who is slated to be the bulk guy this afternoon. Over 17 2/3 innings spread over seven games Waddell has a 2.55 ERA, 4.05 FIP, 1.132 WHIP and a 153 ERA+. If Waddell gets into a groove, he can go deep into this game. Earlier this season he pitched five innings of relief against the White Sox tossing 94 pitches. He’s gone over 60 pitches several times and his last two outings were each three innings.
The Mets bats will close their series against the Yankees against an old foe in Max Fried. Fried is off to a career start with the Yankees pitching 114 innings over 18 starts with a 2.13 ERA, 3.02 FIP, 0.939 WHIP and a 188 ERA+. He’s coming off of a rough start against the Blue Jays who tagged him for four runs over six innings, including two home runs. He was solid against the Mets in May, holding the Mets to only two runs over six innings from three hits and two walks while striking out eight. The Mets have the following career stats against Fried:
- Pete Alonso 10-39, 2B, 2 HR, 6 BB, 14 K
- Brett Baty 2-6, 3 K
- Travis Jankowski 0-0, BB
- Francisco Lindor 3-31, HR, 6 K
- Starling Marte 5-23, 3 2B, BB, 6 K
- Jeff McNeil 11-32, 3 2B, 2 BB, 6 K
- Brandon Nimmo 3-29, 2 2B, 6 BB, 12 K
- Juan Soto 9-30, 2B, 5 BB, 11 K
- Tyrone Taylor 2-7, 2 K
- Mark Vientos 1-3
Three Things To Watch For:
- Pete Alonso. Alonso had a massive day for the Mets on Saturday going 2-for-4 with three runs scored, five RBI’s and two home runs. Alonso was in a bit of a home run drought going 13 games without hitting one (.327 SLG over that stretch). He now has 20 on the season and 246 in his career as he continues his chase for the franchise record held by Strawberry (252). While we’ve been focusing on home runs for Pete Alonso, he already has 25 doubles this season which is the National League lead and only six less than he had in all of 2024. Before yesterday’s game where he hit two home runs, he already had a 2.9 bWAR, which is higher than his bWAR total for 2024 (2.6).
- Brandon Nimmo. It doesn’t matter where Brandon Nimmo is hitting in the lineup right now. Saturday the Mets went with Marte in the lead off spot (which has worked now for two straight games) and Nimmo in the fifth spot. Nimmo responded with a 2-for-4 performance including a grand slam. It was his third home run in his last four games played and his second grand slam!
- Managing the bullpen. Through injuries, a doubleheader last Wednesday and weird usage over the last couple of days, the Mets bullpen is tired. The Mets are going to relish the day off on Monday, which should also allow the Mets to push the pen a bit harder today. The Mets still needed four relievers on Saturday to get through the game, including Edwin Díaz who tossed 18 pitches. Díaz had to start warming up in the 8th because Stanek looked like he was about to collapse. There’s a good chance we’ll see Zach Pop who was signed before the start of Saturday’s game. Pop has allowed nine runs over 5 1/3 innings this season in the majors but had a 3.52 ERA over nine games (7 2/3 innings) in Tacoma.
Let’s Go Mets!
