The Mets head to Miami on a high note! The Mets were down 2-0 for most of Sunday’s game until Brett Baty hit a solo home run to start off the 8th. Then the Mets kept the rallying going with Bo Bichette hitting a go-ahead, three-run bomb. The Mets held on and enter play today only one game back from fourth place in the NL East. Today the Mets are running out a young pitcher for a fourth game in a row – it’s finally Jonah Tong time!
Jonah Tong made five starts for the Mets down the stretch last season, totaling 18 2/3 innings with a 7.7 1 ERA, 4.31 FIP, 1.768 WHIP and a 54 ERA+. His stats this season are skewed by one outing. At the end of May he pitched 6 2/3 over two games allowing only unearned run. In his next outing he allowed five runs, four earned over 3 1/3 innings. He’s made 23 starts totaling 107 innings in Syracuse this season with a 4.54 ERA. In his last four starts he has allowed only two runs over 21 1/3 innings while striking out 23 batters. The Marlins have the following career stats against him:
- Owen Caissie 0-0, BB
- Otto Lopez 2-4, 2B, K
- Joe Mack 0-1
- Jakob Marsee 0-4, 2 K
- Agustín Ramírez 0-3
- Esteury Ruiz 0-1
- Javier Sanoja 0-1
- Kyle Stowers 0-1
Eury Pérez has made 25 starts totaling 135 1/3 innings with a 3.72 ERA, 4.07 FIP, 1.182 WHIP and a 106 ERA+. His last two starts have been rough, allowing 11 runs over 7 2/3 innings from 11 hits including four home runs while walking seven batters. His two starts against the Mets were pretty good this season, holding the Mets to three runs, two earned, over 12 1/3 innings. The Mets have the following career stats against Pérez:
- Francisco Alvarez 0-1, 3 BB, K
- Brett Baty 0-7, 2 K
- Carson Benge 0-6, 2 K
- Bo Bichette 4-11, 2B, K
- A.J. Ewing 0-5, 2 K
- Francisco Lindor 1-7, 2 BB, 4 K
- Nick Morabito 0-2, 2 K
- Marcus Semien 1-4
- Juan Soto 3-6, 2 HR, K
- Luis Torrens 0-2, K
- Mark Vientos 1-3, HR, BB
Three Things To Watch For:
- Bo Bichette. Bo Bichette season has had three themes. First he just massively struggled. Then he started to get on base at a healthy clip, but with almost no power. Now the power has shown up. In his last seven games he has gone 9-for-26 at the plate with three doubles and two home runs (.346/.414/.692). In his last 24 games he has gone .311/.380/.578 with 13 of his 28 hits going for extra bases.
- Juan Soto. Since coming back from the injured list, Juan Soto has gone 5-for-28 over eight games with two home runs and three walks (.179/.258/.393). He’s coming back from a significant injury and still hasn’t hit his groove yet. He has tremendous numbers though against Pérez, so maybe today is the day he can get going again.
- Milestone Watch. Bo Bichette homered again in Sunday’s game, and now he joins the list of players that are four home runs away from reaching the 20 home run plateau for the season. Carson Benge needs four home runs to have a 20-20 season (and one more double to go 20-20-20). Francisco Lindor needs four more to reach 20 home runs again. There are 20 days left, so this is increasingly becoming a difficult number to reach, but one hot day can change that entirely.
Let’s Go Mets!
