The Mets have lost four of their last five games. Each of those losses were by one run. Things look more bleak if you take a step back. The Mets have lost nine of their last ten games. Two of those games featured eight unearned runs. In last night’s game they allowed a little league home run. The Mets enter play today with 50 losses on the season and are 15 games below 500.
On the positive side, today is Nolan McLean day!
Nolan McLean has made 16 starts this year totaling 89 1/3 innings with a 4.03 ERA, 3.69 FIP, 1.119 WHIP and a 103 ERA+. He has a 10.7 K/9, striking out 106 batters this season and this rate matches his K/9 from last year. He’s just walking batters a bit more and hitters are hitting more home runs against him. McLean is coming off of a start against the Cubs where he allowed six runs over six innings from two home runs while striking out nine batters. His start before that was brilliant, going seven innings allowing only one, unearned run while striking out nine. This will be Nolan’s first start against the Blue Jays and no one on the Blue Jays has faced McLean in a Major League.
The Mets batters will try to find themselves tonight against Kevin Gausman. Gausman has made 17 starts this season totaling 95 innings with a 4.36 ERA, 3.78 FIP, 1.189 WHIP and a 103 ERA+. In his last two starts he has allowed 13 runs over eight innings. Overall in the month of June he has a 7.62 ERA, 6.18 FIP over five starts. One start was great (one run over seven) and everything else has been forgettable. The Mets have the following career numbers against Gausman:
- Francisco Lindor 4-11, 2B, HR, 2 BB, 2 K
- Juan Soto 8-17, 2 2B, HR, 12 BB, 2 K
- Tyrone Taylor 0-2, K
- Luis Torrens 0-2
- Mark Vientos 0-2
- Eric Wagaman 2-3, HR
Three Things To Watch For:
- Please get a hit with RISP. On Sunday the Mets lost 5-4 against the Phillies and went 2-for-16 with runners in scoring position, leaving 14 runners on. Last night the Mets went 0-for-9 with runners in scoring position leaving seven runners on including two in the ninth inning. In this current era of the Mets losing streak (four of the last five games) the Mets are always just one hit away from a completely different result.
- Soto working walks. Soto’s baseball savant page is full of red, like it always is. He’s in the 100th percentile for xwOBA, xBA, xSLG and the 99th percentile for squared-up percentage. He’s in the 96th percentile for his walk rate, sitting at 15.3%, and it has been ticking up recently. Soto has walked eight times in the last seven games. For context, he has 35 walks on the season and has played in 66 games. He has 12 career walks against Kevin Gausman with a .690 OBP.
- Ewing giveth. Ewing taketh. Before yesterday’s game we talked about the hot streak the Ewing had been on for his last five games (8-for-16). If we take a larger step back, he’s been crushing it for his last 12 games slashing .351/.455/.595 with three doubles, two home runs and 10 RBI’s. He’s also been caught stealing three times in that 12 game stretch, bringing him to six on the year. He also added a fielding error last night to boot.
Let’s Go Mets!
