The Mets are coming off a disappointing series against the Nationals and it feels like the season is on the line this weekend. The season is not literally on the line, the Mets still have a half game going into play today and there’s a bit more than a month left to play. Mentally though the Mets are in a rough spot.
In addition to losing two games against the Nationals, games where the Mets either had a chance to win (Wednesday) or held the lead (Thursday), the Mets have gone through a sudden rash of injuries. Francisco Alvarez is on the injured list. Brandon Nimmo is out with the same neck injury that has plagued him before. Jeff McNeil is banged up. The Mets are going to need some players to step up right now. One of those players is starting tonight.
Nolan McLean gave a jolt to the Mets rotation in major league debut last weekend. He allowed only two hits and four walks over 5 2/3 scoreless innings during his major league debut while striking out eight batters. Statcast logged six different pitches during his debut. He leaned mostly on his mid-80’s sweeper (36.3% usage). He then mixed in his mid-90’s sinker 26.4% of the time, which had a .125 xBA and a low-80’s curveball 20.9% of the time. Statcast also picked up nine four seamers, four cutters and two changeups. The Mets need McLean!
The Mets bats will try to exorcise their woes from the last couple of days against Joey Wentz. Wentz has pitched with the Pirates, Twins and now the Braves this season. Across all teams he has pitched 32 games making six starts totaling 68 2/3 innings with a 4.72 ERA, 4.16 FIP, 1.383 WHIP and a 90 ERA+. He’s been a much better pitcher with the Braves though, tossing 34 2/3 innings with a 2.60 ERA, 3.11 FIP, 0.952 WHIP and a 161 ERA+. In his last two starts he has allowed only two runs from seven hits over 11 1/3 innings. The Mets have the following career stats against Wentz:
- Pete Alonso 1-3, 2B
- Brett Baty 2-4
- Francisco Lindor 1-4, HR, K
- Starling Marte 1-4, 2 K
- Jeff McNeil 1-3, BB
- Cedric Mullins 0-5, K
- Brandon Nimmo 0-4
- Tyrone Taylor 0-1
Three Things To Watch For:
- Francisco Lindor. When the going gets tough for the Mets, the Mets rely on their leader – Francisco Lindor. Lindor went 3-for-5 yesterday at the plate, leading off the game with a home run. He now has a nine game hitting streak where he has multiple hits in six of those nine games, has reached based at least twice in eight of those games and has three hits in four of them. The Mets aren’t falling apart right now because of Lindor.
- Starling Marte. Francisco Alvarez was heating up, going 6-for-12 last weekend before his injury. Brandon Nimmo was starting to look more like himself. Jeff McNeil was raking this past week. The Mets are hoping Marte can fill multiple gaps in their lineup left by some crucial hitters. Marte hit his seventh home run of the season last Thursday night, tying his total from last season and he has his highest OPS right now since 2022.
- Which Joey shows up tonight? Joey Wentz had a 10.1 BB/9 in his six games with the Twins this season. With the Braves that has dropped all the way down to 3.1 BB/9, below his career mark of 4.1 BB/9. With the Braves he is allowing 0.5 HR/9, considerably lower than his career 1.4 HR/9. The Brewers were able to score five runs off of Wentz at the start of August before Wentz’s current hot streak.
Let’s Go Mets!
