The Mets are back in control of their own destiny! The Mets got the night started off with a bang on Tuesday with Francisco Lindor leading off of the game with a home run. The Cubs pretty much immediately bounced back scoring five runs, just suppressing the vibes. But the Mets fought back! First to make it 6-6, then to take a 7-6 lead. The Cubs would eventually tied it again before Francisco Alvarez called game with a two-run go-ahead blast. The Mets have to play postseason baseball now if they want to playing in October next week!
Jonah Tong makes his fifth major league start tonight. Over his first 16 2/3 innings, he has a 5.94 ERA, 4.23 FIP, 1.440 WHIP and a 69 ERA+. He’s coming off of his best start of his career holding the Padres to one unearned run, scattering four hits while striking out a career high eight batters. Tong has not been hit exceptionally hard this season, he’s just given up a lot of hits (.293 BA on the fastball, .271 xBA). Hitters have a .537 SLG on his fastball despite an average exit velocity of 89.7 mph. Hopefully he can build off of his last start tonight!
Matthew Boyd is having a career year for the Cubs. He earned his first All-Star nomination and is tied for the second highest bWAR (2.5) of his career. Over 174 1/3 innings he has a 3.20 ERA, 3.60 FIP, 1.107 WHIP and a 121 ERA+. He’s had a tough go of it lately with a 6.54 ERA, 5.36 FIP over his last 31 2/3 innings (six starts). In his last two starts he has allowed eight runs over eight innings from 12 hits, including two homers. Boyd had a solid start against the Mets back in May holding the Mets two runs over six innings. The Mets have the following career stats against him:
- Luisangel Acuña 1-2
- Pete Alonso 0-3, 3 K
- Francisco Lindor 13-36, 2 HR, 3 BB, 5 K
- Starling Marte 2-9, BB, 2 K
- Brandon Nimmo 1-2, K
- Juan Soto 1-7, HR, BB, 2 K
- Luis Torrens 1-2, 3B
- Mark Vientos 1-3, HR
Three Things To Watch For:
- Power. The Mets are the best when they are swinging for the fences. Their top four hitters in the lineup each have 25 HR+ in Lindor, Soto, Alonso and Nimmo. Vientos has as much power as anyone when he’s in a groove. Baty has been power surprise this season with 17 bombs. Francisco Alvarez hit his 10th home run last night to put the Mets in lead. When the Mets play like themselves, there is a fear they can take over the game in any inning. We saw glimpses of that Tuesday night!
- Season Stats. Francisco Lindor is now only one home run away from his second 30-30 season. Juan Soto is sitting at 124 career walks. His next walk will tie John Olerud for most walks by a Mets hitter in a single season (125 – 1999). Less likely, but not impossible, Soto is only four stolen bases away from 40 for the season. Pete Alonso has an outside chance at 40 double – 40 home run season, but he’ll really need to put in work over the last five games of the season. He needs two doubles and three homers.
- Wild Card race. Get ready to root for the Pirates again tonight. They have a great pitching match up with the Reds with Paul Skenes (2.03 ERA) taking on Hunter Greene (2.74). That game will start about 90 minutes before the Mets game. About 90 minutes after the Mets game starts the Dodgers and Blake Snell (2.44 ERA) will take Ryne Nelson (3.44 ERA). The Reds and Diamondbacks are just one game behind the Mets.
Let’s Go Mets!
