The Mets look to win their third game in a row this evening at Citi Field! The Angels took the lead early Monday. As we noted yesterday, the Angels are in the top half of the league in scoring, ahead of the Mets, but are near the bottom of the league in runs allowed. With the way the Mets have been hitting recently being down 4-0 with their starter leaving after three innings felt insurmountable.
But the Mets showed a lot of fight last night! The bullpen picked up Kodai Senga and allowed only one more run. The Mets bats, mostly through the bottom of the lineup, scratched out seven runs. Edwin Díaz struck out the side in the ninth inning to shut the door. Now the Mets have the momentum going into game two!
Frankie Montas makes his fifth start of the season tonight for the Mets. Over his first four starts he has pitched 19 2/3 innings with a 5.03 ERA, 4.62 FIP, 1.169 WHIP and a 77 ERA+. He has been excellent in two starts, his first start and his last start, allowing only one run over 10 innings. In the two starts between he allowed 10 runs over 9 2/3 innings. Which Montas will we get tonight at Citi? The Angels have the following career numbers against Montas:
- Jo Adell 0-5, 2 K
- Travis d’Arnaud 0-3, K
- Yoan Moncada 2-5, 2 BB, 2 K
- Kevin Newman 1-2
- Luis Rengifo 1-9, HR, 2 BB
- Jorge Soler 0-6, 2 K
- Mike Trout 5-19, 2 BB, 5 K
- LaMonte Wade Jr. 3-9, 2 HR, 2 BB
- Taylor Ward 4-12, 3B, HR, 2 K
The Mets bats take on the Professor tonight! After many years in Chicago, Kyle Hendricks is now an Angel. Over 18 games, 96 innings, Hendricks has a 4.88 ERA, 4.78 FIP, 1.292 WHIP and an 87 ERA+. July hasn’t been so kind to Hendricks – he’s allowed eight runs, seven earned over nine innings from 10 hits. The Mets have the following career stats against him:
- Pete Alonso 2-7, HR, 3 BB, K
- Francisco Alvarez 1-5
- Brett Baty 1-1
- Francisco Lindor 3-15, BB, 4 K
- Jeff McNeil 3-7, HR, BB, K
- Brandon Nimmo 2-6, 2 K
- Juan Soto 4-13, 2B, BB, 4 K
- Tyrone Taylor 1-4, 2B
- Mark Vientos 0-2
Three Things To Watch For:
- Mets bullpen management. Barring a move before game time, the Mets have three pitchers in the bullpen that didn’t pitch in Monday night’s game – Ryne Stanek, Reed Garrett and Alex Carrillo. Edwin Díaz and Huascar Brazobán have both pitched on back-to-back days. Frankie Montas has topped out at around five innings in his starts this year so even in the best scenario where Montas comes out strong tonight, the Mets are going to need 3-4 innings of work from their already tired bullpen.
- Brett Baty. Baty is in a hot streak! Over his last four games Baty has gone 5-for-11 at the plate with two home runs, two walks and a stolen base. He has three RBI’s and has scored four runs (.455/.538/1.000). The Mets offense for most of the season has run through their big four, and we’ve seen when one or two of the big four struggle, the whole offense sputters. Baty’s resurgence is coming at the best time for the Mets.
- Francisco Lindor. Lindor’s funk continued for another day Monday night, going 0-for-5 at the plate but he did record a run and had an RBI on a force out in the Mets big 7th inning. In his last five games he has gone 0-for-24. There are signs though that he is going to break out of this funk soon. He didn’t strikeout out at all Monday night and three of his five at bats had exit velocities above 90 mph. Two of his at bats had an xBA of .440 and .550. He’s going to regress to his mean soon, which means he’s going to get some hits!
Let’s Go Mets!
