The good news is the Mets scored runs yesterday! The bad news is they didn’t score enough. The Athletics jumped out to a 7-1 lead against the Mets on Saturday. Throughout the middle innings of the game the Mets started mount a comeback, bringing it all the way to 7-6. Then the Mets stumbled again and eventually lost 11-6. Now the Mets will attempt to avoid the sweep this afternoon and snap their four game losing streak.
Freddy Peralta is the first pitcher on the Mets to make four starts so far this season. Over his first three starts, 15 innings, he has a 4.80 ERA, 3.55 FIP, 1.133 WHIP and a 77 ERA+. He looked great on April 1st, holding the Cardinals to one run over 5 1/3 innings while striking out seven. Last time out he allowed three runs over 4 2/3 innings against the Diamondbacks. Peralta had a strong start against the Athletics last season, holding them scoreless over five innings, scattering seven hits and a walk. The Athletics have the following career stats against Peralta:
- Lawrence Butler 1-3, K
- Shea Langeliers 0-3
- Jeff McNeil 0-7, 2 K
- Max Muncy 1-2, K
- Tyler Soderstrom 2-3
- Jacob Wilson 1-2
Aaron Civale has allowed three runs from six hits and two walks over 10 innings this season. Last season Civale pitched with the Brewers, White Sox and Cubs totaling 18 starts and 23 games overall. He pitched 102 innings with a 4.85 ERA, 4.63 FIP, 1.265 WHIP and an 88 ERA+. His last outing of the season was against the Mets where he allowed one run on two hits over three innings of relief. The Mets have the following career stats against him:
- Francisco Alvarez 0-2, K
- Brett Baty 1-2, HR, K
- Bo Bichette 5-18, HR, 2 BB, K
- Francisco Lindor 1-5, 2B, K
- Jorge Polanco 3-18, 2B, HR, 2 BB, 6 K
- Luis Robert Jr. 5-17, HR, 3 BB, 3 K
- Marcus Semien 4-12, 2 2B, BB
- Tyrone Taylor 2-4, 2B, K
- Luis Torrens 0-2
- Mark Vientos 0-3, K
- Jared Young 0-1, BB
Three Things To Watch For:
- Peralta’s weird outcomes. Peralta has a 51.4% groundball percentage this year, the highest in his career. His fly ball percentage is 24.%, by far the lowest in his career. His GB/FB ratio is 2.11, and it has only been above once (1.04) and that was back in 2023. Each of the last two seasons it was exactly 0.82. His xFIP is 2.58, which is the loest in his career by a long shot. But the actual results so far this season have been mixed. We’ll be looking today to see if he is still getting more grounders to flyballs.
- Mets stolen base update. The Mets were incredibly successful at stealing bases last year, and a huge part of that was due to their first base coach Antoan Richardson. They ended last season fifth in the league. This year they are 14th with 10 stolen bases, but there’s only five stolen bases separating 6th to 14th. Carson Benge has been a huge part of the Mets total number, already stealing five bases this season. Francisco Lindor and Juan Soto combined for 69 stolen bases and together they only have one so far this year. It feels like Lindor would steal less right now because of his hamate surgery, and who knows what Soto will do when he comes back from the injured list. Even with two of the more prolific base stealers on the team down, the Mets are still making it happen.
- Bo Bichette. Bichette did everything he could for the Mets yesterday going 2-for-3 hitting a home run and walking twice. He now has a five game hitting streak and has at least one hit in nine of his last 10 games. In his last 10 he is hitting .333/.391/.452 which is a lot better than his season line of .250/.300/.328.
Let’s Go Mets!
