213 Miles From Shea

The Mets look to shake off Wednesday’s clunker of a game this evening against the Rockies, who are off to a historically bad start this season. In addition to facing the Rockies, both teams will be playing against the weather tonight. As of writing, there’s a pretty consistent chance of rain from 9 PM on, that get worst as the night progresses. The threat of rain continues early Saturday before a dry Sunday.

Last weekend the Mets needed David Peterson. The game before his start had an early 90+ minute rain delay and the Dodgers and Mets ended up playing 13 innings, needing the bullpen to cover about ten of those innings. Peterson came through for the Mets pitching 7 2/3 innings the following game, holding the Dodgers to only two runs from five hits while striking out seven.

Overall this season Peterson has pitched 58 innings with a 2.79 ERA, 3.40 FIP, 1.276 WHIP and a 137 ERA+. In his last six starts he has pitched 36 innings with a 2.50 ERA, 3.57 FIP. He has allowed two runs or fewer in each start and has pitched at least six innings in each of his last four starts. Peterson held the Rockies to one run on four hits over five innings in 2024 and the Rockies have the following career numbers against him:

• Orlando Arcia 1-5, 3 BB, 2 K
• Brenton Doyle 0-2
• Kyle Farmer 3-5, 2B, 2 K
• Hunter Goodman 0-1, BB
• Ryan McMahon 2-4, HR, BB
• Mickey Moniak 1-3, K
• Jacob Stallings 1-4, BB, K
• Michael Toglia 0-2, K
• Ezequiel Tovar 1-3, K

Kyle Freeland has pitched 55 1/3 innings this season with a 5.86 ERA, 3.41 FIP, 1.681 WHIP and a 79 ERA+. It’s his third consecutive season in a row with an ERA above five, and his lowest ERA+ in his last six seasons, but he’s having a career best season for FIP. HIs FIP is 1.5 runs lower than last season and lower than any season where he had an ERA+ above 100. It’s probably because he’s allowing only 0.8 HR/9, which is lower than his last couple of seasons (1.7 HR/9). Last season he allowed three runs over 4 2/3 innings against the Mets while striking out seven batters. The Mets have the following career stats against him:

• Pete Alonso 1-3, BB, 2 K
• Francisco Lindor 2-10, 2B, BB, 4 K
• Starling Marte 3-13, 2 K
• Jeff McNeil 0-1, BB
• Brandon Nimmo 4-11, 2B, HR, 3 K
• Juan Soto 5-28, 2B, 3B, 2 HR, 4 BB, K
• Tyrone Taylor 1-11, 2B, 5 K
• Luis Torrens 0-3, K
• Mark Vientos 0-2

Three Things To Watch For:

1. Fielding and Walks. The Mets did not look sharp on Wednesday making multiple errors in the field leading to unearned runs. Compounding the fielding problems, Mets pitchers walked six batters, giving the White Sox so many chances. (The White Sox returned the favor walking eight Mets, but the Mets went 2-for-12 with runners in scoring position, leaving 11 on base). If the Mets play a crisp, sharp game tonight, they’ll be fine.
2. Brandon Nimmo. Last Friday Brandon Nimmo exited the game early with neck stiffness. Since returning he has gone 5-for-12 with a double, three runs and two walks (.417/.500/.500). He looked like vintage Nimmo on Wednesday collecting two hits and two walks.
3. Familiar Face, New Place. The Braves released Orlando Arcia last weekend and he signed with the Rockies a few days later. The middle infielder has been with the Braves since the 2021 trade deadline, had his best season in 2022 (102 OPS+) and was a 2023 All-Star. He massively struggled in 14 games for the Braves this season slashing .194/.219/.226 (25 OPS+). In his first game with the Rockies he went 2-for-3.

Let’s Go Mets!

There is a possibility of two different sweeps this afternoon at Citi Field:

• The Mets sweep the White Sox in a three game set
• The rain sweeps away both the Mets and the White Sox

The Mets moved to make the first option more of a possibility on Tuesday by beating the White Sox 6-4 and moving today’s game from 7:10 up to 1:10. As of writing, there’s at least a 50% chance of rain throughout the afternoon that increases as the afternoon goes on. Hopefully the Mets can wade through all of this and extend their winning streak to five games.

Griffin Canning’s stats from his last start shouldn’t count. Over 10 starts and 50 innings this season, Canning has as a 2.88 ERA, 4.01 FIP, 1.320 WHIP and a 133 ERA+. His last inning pitched was one of wackier ones this season – it looked like the Mets should have had an inning ending double play, by doubling off Conforto at second base. The rule from MLB was a runner can tag when the ball contacts the glove, so it became runners on second and third. The skies then opened up as Canning fell behind a hitter 3-1. There was a 90+ minute delay and the pitcher who came into relieve Canning immediately allowed runs.

Anyway, before that outing Canning had a 1.67 ERA, 3.47 FIP over six starts (32 1/3 innings). He had an excellent outing against the White Sox last September holding them scoreless over six innings. The White Sox have the following career numbers against him:

• Andrew Benintendi 3-11, 2 2B, BB, 3 K
• Korey Lee 0-2, K
• Luis Robert Jr. 0-6, 5 K
• Josh Rojas 1-5, 2B, BB
• Lenyn Sosa 0-2, K
• Michael A Taylor 2-5, K
• Miguel Vargas 1-2, K

The Mets bats will get a look at rookie Shane Smith who is off to a fast start this year with a 2.36 ERA, 3.31 FIP, 1.106 WHIP and a 171 ERA+. He looked more average in his last start, allowing three runs over five innings from two hits and two walks. In his start before that he allowed six runs but only one earned over five innings – which is a way to beat the White Sox!

Three Things To Watch For:

1. Pete Alonso. Alonso has gone 5-for-15 over his last three games with two home runs. He had a 16 game home run drought that he broke on Sunday night and he homered again Tuesday night, evaporating a first inning White Sox lead. Alonso now has 11 home runs on the season and 237 for his career as he chases Strawberry’s franchise leading 252 homers. Is this another Pete Alonso hot streak loading?
2. Hit By Pitches. Jonathan Cannon hit Francisco Alvarez with a pitch Tuesday night, which was a league leading 34th time this season the Mets have been hit by a pitch. Shane Smith leads the league with six hit batters in 2025. This feels like a recipe for someone getting hit, which isn’t great.
3. Getting hits in bunches. Sunday night the Mets had six hits, with no one collecting more than one hit. Monday nigh the Mets had seven hits, with only Brandon Nimmo collecting more than one hit. This matches the general feeling of the Mets offense for the last couple of weeks. Tuesday night was a completely different story. The Mets had 12 hits with Lindor, Baty, Young and McNeil all collecting more than one hit. Hopefully this is a sign that multiple members of the Mets lineup are starting to get it going again.

Let’s Go Mets!

Have you exhaled from Monday’s game yet?

The White Sox took and early 1-0 lead against the Mets and the Mets responded by doing essentially nothing until the end of the game. Juan Soto had a sacrifice fly to tie the game in the bottom of the 8th. Francisco Lindor hit a walk-off sacrifice fly at the bottom the ninth. Thus the Mets avoided a disaster in dropping the first game against the White Sox.

After dropping series against the Yankees and Red Sox, the Mets won a series against the Dodgers this past weekend. With Monday’s win against the White Sox the Mets have now won three games in a row and four games in their last five, despite their bats not being all the way back yet. Let’s keep the momentum going!

Over ten starts Tylor Megill has pitched 48 innings with a 3.56 ERA, 2.82 FIP, 1.354 WHIP and a 108 ERA+. His last start was a breath of fresh air for Megill, allowing one run over 4 2/3 innings from one hit and one walk while striking out 10 batters, something he’s done only one other time this season. Prior to that start Megill allowed 15 runs over 18 2/3 innings spread over four starts (7.23 ERA, 4.30 FIP). Megill had a strong start against the White Sox in 2024 holding the Sox to one run from five hits over 5 1/3 innings while striking out six. The White Sox have the following career numbers against Megill:

• Andrew Benintendi 2-3, 2B, K
• Joshua Palacios 1-3
• Luis Robert Jr. 0-3, K
• Josh Rojas 0-2, K
• Mike Tauchman 0-2
• Miguel Vargas 0-4, BB, 2 K

It’s been a while since the Mets faced a starting pitcher with a perfect nominative deterministic name. Jonathan Cannon is off to a strong start in his second major league season, pitching 55 innings over 10 games, eight starts, with a 3.76 ERA, 4.05 ERA, 1.309 WHIP and a 107 ERA+. He’s coming off of a rough start where he allowed four runs, three earned over five innings against he Cubs. Prior to that he had a 2.00 ERA, 2.62 FIP over three starts (18 innings). The Mets hit him fairly well in 2024, scoring four runs on four hits and four walks over five innings. The Mets have the following career stats against him:

• Pete Alonso 0-2, BB, K
• Francisco Alvarez 0-2, K
• Francisco Lindor 0-2, BB, K
• Jeff McNeil 0-1, BB
• Brandon Nimmo 0-3
• Juan Soto 2-3, 2 HR
• Mark Vientos 1-2, BB

Three Things To Watch For:

1. Tylor Megill. Paul Blackburn is making his last rehab start today in the minors. Frankie Montas is ramping up his rehab. Sean Manaea seems to be a week or so behind Montas. There are additional arms on the way to the Mets. Megill had a solid bounce back start his last time out, but his time in the rotation could be dwindling. You could make the argument that his last start was a statement start in response to Blackburn’s impending return. We’ll be watching to see how crisp Megill looks again in another effort to stay in the rotation.
2. Brandon Nimmo. Nimmo made a strong return to the Mets on Monday going 2-for-4 at the plate with his 10th double of the season. Nimmo came out of the game on Friday during the rain delay with neck stiffness. Nimmo is off to a slow start this season with an OPS below .700. The White Sox followed by the Rockies would be a great way get Nimmo going!
3. Juan Soto. Soto is becoming a consistent RBI machine in the three-spot! He has four RBI’s over his last three games, getting at least one RBI in three games in a row. He’s gotten two RBI’s over the last two days without getting a hit. Soto currently has 25 RBI’s on the season, good for fourth on the Mets, two behind Brandon Nimmo who has 27.

Let’s Go Mets!

It has been quite the few weeks for the New York Mets playing the high powered offenses of the Diamondbacks, Cubs, Yankees, Red Sox and Dodgers. Now they enter a possible trap week where they play the White Sox followed by the Rockies.

The White Sox are struggling in 2025, but not at the pace they were struggling in 2024. They actually have won three of their last five games including taking the series from Texas Rangers this past weekend. Their division is bonkers right now. If the season ended entering play today, all four teams ahead of them would make the playoffs.

Clay Holmes has pitched 54 2/3 innings over 10 starts this season with a 3.13 ERA, 3.60 FIP, 1.244 WHIP and a 123 ERA+. He is coming off of a solid start against the Red Sox where he allowed only two runs, both from solo home runs, over six innings. It was his fourth consecutive start going six innings for the Mets but over his last three starts he has started to give up the long ball. He’s allowed five home runs in three starts. Key tonight will be to keep the White Sox, who are 27th in the league in home runs, in the ballpark. The White Sox have the following career numbers against him:

• Andrew Benintendi 0-2, BB, K
• Joshua Palacios 0-1, K
• Luis Robert Jr. 1-2, BB, K
• Josh Rojas 0-2, K
• Austin Slater 1-4, BB, K
• Mike Tauchman 0-2
• Michael A Taylor 1-3, K
• Miguel Vargas 0-0, BB

The Mets will face an old, temporary friend today in Adrian Houser. The Mets acquired Adrian Houser and Tyrone Taylor in a trade before the 2024 season for Coleman Crow. Houser struggled with the Mets, posting a 5.84 ERA, 67 ERA+ over 69 1/3 innings in a mix of starts and relief appearances. The Mets would release him at the end of July. He bounced around betweent he Cubs and Orioles for the rest of the season but didn’t make it back to the majors.

Houser started off this season with the Rangers and was released in mid-May making his way over the White Sox. In his first and only start this season last week, he held the Mariners to only two hits and three walks while shutting them out over six innings. The Mets have the following career stats against Houser:

• Pete Alonso 3-8, BB
• Francisco Alvarez 0-2
• Brett Baty 1-2, HR, K
• Francisco Lindor 1-8, K
• Starling Marte 3-11, 3 K
• Jeff McNeil 2-7, 2 2B, K
• Brandon Nimmo 4-7, 2B, HR, BB, K
• Juan Soto 1-7
• Jared Young 0-4, 2 K

Three Things To Watch For:

1. Pete Alonso. Alonso finally ended his 16 game home run drought Sunday night, mashing his 10th home run of the season to give the Mets lead early in the game. This was his 236th career homerun on his pursuit to to break Strawberry’s franchise record 252 homers. Alonso has some of the better numbers against Houser over his career. Let’s get another Polar Bear hot streak going!
2. Stealing bases. The Mets stole two more bases last night, bringing them to 42 on the season, good for 15th in the league. This is more or less where the Mets were last year, where they ended the season 16th in the league. There’s an unusual name stealing bases though – Juan Soto. Soto stole his 7th base of the season Sunday night. He stole seven bases in all of 2024. The most he has ever stolen in one season is 12, which he did twice (2019, 2023). Is Juan Soto trying to have a 30-30 season in 2025?
3. Double Plays. Hitting into double plays has crushed the Mets so far this season, but now they are the one’s turning them! The Mets turned six double plays over the last two games, three in each start. Clay Holmes is in the 88th percentile for ground balls, getting them 53.9% of the time in 2025. This feels like a recipe for more double plays!

Let’s Go Mets!

The Mets have a chance to take the series from the Dodgers tonight!

Friday night was a weird game that saw an odd tag up play, a 90 minute rain delay, and multiple scoreless innings of extra-inning baseball. There was a feeling early Saturday night that we were heading the same way. The Dodgers scored their second run when the umpires missed the ball being batted off of a hitters leg. Rather than letting snowball to a disaster, David Peterson settled in and delivered a masterful 7 2/3 inning performance, setting the Mets up for success tonight!

Kodai Senga has pitched 50 1/3 innings this season with a 1.43 ERA, 2.84 FIP, 1.192 WHIP and a 270 ERA+. His last start was one of the most important of the season. It was evident early on that he did not have his best stuff, but he battled through and was able to stop the bleeding at only three runs while giving the Mets six solid innings. Unfortunately, the Mets hitters took the night off and the Mets lost 3-1.

Senga will be looking to right the record after two relief outings against the Dodgers in 2024 where he allowed a total of six runs over three innings from five hits and four walks. The Dodgers have the following career numbers against Senga:

• Mookie Betts 4-4, 2B, HR, BB
• Michael Conforto 0-2, BB, K
• Tommy Edman 1-7, 2B, K
• Freddie Freeman 0-2, 2 BB, K
• Kiké Hernández 1-3
• Teoscar Hernández 1-3, 2B, BB, K
• Max Muncy 1-3, 2 BB, K
• Shohei Ohtani 2-3, 2B, 3 BB
• Andy Pages 0-1
• Miguel Rojas 0-2
• Will Smith 0-4, K

Landon Knack has pitched in six games including four starts this season totaling 23 1/3 innings. He has a 6.17 ERA, 5.18 FIP, 1.543 WHIP and a 64 ERA+. His last two outings have been particularly brutal allowing nine total runs from 13 hits, including four home runs, over 9 2/3 innings against the Athletics and the Diamondbacks. While the Diamondbacks lit him up (five runs over 4 2/3), he did strike out eight batters in that game.

The Mets got to Landon Knack in the 2024 NLCS scoring five times over two innings of relief from five hits and three walks. Four of the runs scored on a Mark Vientos grand slam! The Mets have the following career numbers against Knack:

• Pete Alonso 1-1
• Francisco Alvarez 0-2
• Francisco Lindor 0-0, BB
• Starling Marte 1-2
• Brandon Nimmo 0-1, K
• Juan Soto 0-2, K
• Tyrone Taylor 1-1, 2B, BB
• Mark Vientos 1-1, HR

Three Things To Watch For:

1. Brett Baty. It’s the third day in a row that we’re talking about Brett Baty. He recorded his third multi-hit game in a row Saturday night, going 3-for-3 at the plate with a double, a run scored, a walk and two RBI’s. In his last three games he has now gone 7-for-11 with six RBI’s.
2. Somehow, both bullpens are okay. The concern going into Saturday’s game was how tired the bullpens were from Friday’s marathon of a game. Thanks to David Peterson, the Mets only had to run Edwin Díaz to pitch on back-to-back days. The Dodgers recalled Bobby Miller who covered two innings of relief for the squad. Anthony Banda was their only pitcher who needed to go on back-to-back days.
3. Shohei Ohtani. When the Mets shut down Aaron Judge last weekend (0-for-5, 3 K), they won the game. Saturday night the Mets did the same thing to Ohtani. He went 0-for-4 on the night with three strikeouts. Shohei has had good at bats against Kodai throughout his career. If Kodai can reverse that tonight, the Mets will be in a good spot.

Let’s Go Mets!

The Mets will try to look past Friday night’s weird slog of a game and even the series against the Dodgers tonight at Citi Field.

The game Friday night took a bizarre turn in the 3rd inning when Juan Soto and Tyrone Taylor collided for a ball. Tyrone Taylor bobbled it and eventually some how caught it. Michael Conforto tagged up on the initial touch and then went. The whole baseball world then found out that according to MLB, that is how you are supposed to tag, so the inning ending double play never happened. At the same time, the skies opened up and the game got delayed with a 3-1 count with two outs and runners on 2nd and 3rd.

The game delay would last over 90 minutes and the Dodgers immediately scored when the game resumed. Eventually the Mets came back sending the game into extra innings. The game would go through 13 innings, ending after 1 AM tiring everyone out. And now the Mets get to play again!

David Peterson looks to go as deep into todays game as possible to save the Mets tired arms. Over 50 1/3 innings this season he has a 2.86 ERA, 3.55 FIP, 1.331 WHIP and a 135 ERA+. He has pitched six innings in three consecutive starts including last weekend against the Yankees where he allowed two runs, only one earned, working around four walks.

Peterson’s first start in 2024 was against the Dodgers allowing three runs, two earned over five innings from seven hits and and one walk. In the playoffs he allowed five runs, four earned, over six innings spread across two games. The Dodgers have the following career numbers against him:

• Mookie Betts 3-11, 2 2B, BB, K
• Michael Conforto 1-3, K
• Tommy Edman 2-3, K
• Freddie Freeman 6-21, 2 HR, BB, 7 K
• Kiké Hernández 4-8, 2B, BB, 2 K
• Teoscar Hernández 2-7, HR, BB, K
• Max Muncy 2-7, HR, 2 K
• Shohei Ohtani 5-10, BB, K
• Andy Pages 3-4, HR
• Miguel Rojas 7-14, 3 2B, HR, K
• Will Smith 2-5, 2B, HR, BB

Tony Gonsolin has a 4.05 ERA, 4.63 FIP, 1.300 WHIP and a 98 ERA+ over 20 innings this season. His deepest outing was his first start of the season where he allowed three runs against the Marlins over six innings. He’s coming off of a start where the Angels tagged him for four runs over four innings including two home runs. While he only pitched four innings in that game, he did get to 97 pitches, by far the most he has this season. The Mets have the following career stats against him:

• Pete Alonso 1-4, 2 K
• Francisco Alvarez 0-2
• Brett Baty 0-1, K
• Francisco Lindor 0-1, BB
• Starling Marte 0-7
• Jeff McNeil 0-3, BB
• Brandon Nimmo 1-5, HR, K
• Juan Soto 4-12, 2B, 3B, 2 K
• Tyrone Taylor 2-4, 2 K

Three Things To Watch For:

1. Hangover from last night. Last night was a late night for both clubs. The worst thing the Mets hitters can do today is have quick at bats. Make Gonsolin have long battles, it led to him throwing nearly 100 pitches by the end of the fourth inning. Get into that tired bullpen, make them throw more pitches. Allow Friday’s game to impact the rest of the weekend. The opposite is true for the Mets. Push David Peterson deeper into the game, give the Mets bullpen a breather.
2. Brett Baty. Baty had his second multi-hit game in a row for the Mets Friday night. Over his last two games he has gone 4-for-8 at the plate with four RBI’s, a walk and a stolen base. The only downside for the Mets – despite getting on base so much Baty has only scored once (on his own home run). The hitters behind him need to get him home!
3. Grounders. Connected to the above, the Mets are third in the league in grounding into double plays, with 46 already this season (the Athletics and Pirates lead the league with 49). These rally killers have become a culprit in the Mets woes with hitting with runners in scoring position. Is this a statistical fluke or the sign of a deeper problem with team approaches at the plate?

Let’s Go Mets!

What a difficult week for the New York Metropolitans! The first place Yankees, followed by the second place Red Sox and now the first place Dodgers! Whew!

For the first time in a while the Mets will play a team tonight with a better record. This will also be the first time the two teams play each other since the 2024 NLCS. The Dodgers will face a Mets team trying to break out of a rut. The Mets offense in their last game finally got a hit with runners in scoring position on their way to beat the Red Sox 5-1. Can the Mets light up Clayton Kershaw tonight?

Griffin Canning has a 2.47 ERA, 3.86 FIP, 1.289 WHIP and a 157 ERA+ over 47 1/3 innings (nine starts) this season. In his last six starts he has a 1.67 ERA, 3.48 FIP over 32 1/3 innings while striking out 33 batters. Before his last start against the Yankees, the only game that series the Mets won, we talked about how there was a warning sign starting to blink for Canning – home runs. He allowed home runs in back-to-back starts in May. Well it happened again against the Yankees, bringing his total to four home runs over three starts. The Dodgers have the following career numbers against Canning:

• Mookie Betts 3-7, 2B, HR, BB, K
• Tommy Edman 1-4, BB, K
• Freddie Freeman 1-5, K
• Kiké Hernández 1-4, 2B, BB
• Teoscar Hernández 4-9, 2B, HR, 3 K
• Max Muncy 0-9, 2 BB, 5 K
• Shohei Ohtani 0-3, K
• Andy Pages 1-1
• Miguel Rojas 0-2, BB
• Will Smith 2-4, 2B, BB

Clayton Kershaw looks to bounce back from his first start this season. Last week he allowed five runs from five hits and three walks over four innings against the Angels. Last season he made seven starts totaling 30 innings with a 4.50 ERA, 3.53 FIP, 1.500 WHIP and an 88 ERA+. Kershaw has been limited by various injuries over the last couple of seasons and he’s still an absolute legend in baseball. The Mets have the following career stats against him:

• Pete Alonso 1-7, 2 BB, 2 K
• José Azócar 1-2, 2B, K
• Francisco Lindor 2-8, 3 K
• Starling Marte 4-22, BB, 9 K
• Jeff McNeil 1-8
• Brandon Nimmo 0-8, 3 K
• Juan Soto 3-14, HR, 2 BB, 4 K
• Tyrone Taylor 0-5, 3 K
• Luis Torrens 1-3, K

Three Things To Watch For:

1. The home run battle. On Wednesday night the Mets hit their first home run in eight days (thank you Francisco Lindor!). The Mets schedule has been insane this month in regards to home runs. In the month of May the Mets have faced the Yankees, Dodgers, Cubs and Diamondbacks, all in the top five for home runs hit this season. Griffin Canning has started against all four teams. This is going to be another weekend where the Mets need their stars to blast some balls to the Van Wyck and Whitestone Expressways.
2. Francisco Lindor. Lindor had a rough week before Tuesday. Over six games he went 1-for-22 at the plate with a double and three walks. The Mets as a team went 2-4 over that stretch. In his last two games he has gone 3-for-8 with a double, home run and three stolen bases. Lindor has also been a much better hitter at home (.386/.429/.693) than away (.200/.291/.309) this season.
3. Brett Baty. Brett Baty saved the Mets on Wednesday night. He went 2-for-4 at the plate with three RBI’s. More importantly, he had the first Mets hit with RISP in what felt like 32 years. Baty now has 14 RBI’s on the season, good for 6th on the team, despite playing in only 32 games and having less than 100 AB’s so far.

Let’s Go Mets!

The Mets are officially in their first losing streak of the season, dropping three games in a row and five games of their last six. Their pitching the last couple of nights have kept them in games but the offense has fallen completely flat.

The Mets will have break this streak in the most difficult way possible. The bats will need to exorcise their demons against Garrett Crochet. Tylor Megill will need to figure out how to put his terrible month of May behind him as he faces one of the more potent offenses in baseball.

Tylor Megill has a 3.74 ERA, 3.13 FIP, 1.385 WHIP and a 104 ERA+ over 43 1/3 innings. If all of his starts were about the same, we would be pretty happy with this stat line from Megill – but he’s really had two different seasons so far. In his first five games he had a 1.09 ERA, 2.35 FIP. In his four starts since then he has a 7.23 ERA with a 4.32 FIP. His strikeouts are high, 26 in 18 2/3 innings during his tough streak, but teams are scoring on him. The Red Sox have the following career numbers against him:

• Wilyer Abreu 0-1, K
• Alex Bregman 2-5
• Rafael Devers 0-1
• Jarren Duran 1-2, 2B
• Nick Sogard 1-1
• Connor Wong 1-2, K

The Red Sox off-season was built around acquiring Garrett Crochet. He has delivered so fart his season with a 2.00 ERA, 2.80 FIP, 1.063 WHIP and a 207 ERA+ over a league leading 10 starts and league leading 63 innings. In half of his starts this season he has allowed zero runs or one run. Luckily for the Mets, he’s coming off of a start where he allowed two runs! (Over seven innings). Crochet faced the Mets last September when the White Sox were controlling his innings. The solo home run they hit off of him was the only run he allowed over 3 1/3 innings. Crochet struck out eight Mets hitters, representing 80% of the outs he recorded. The Mets have the following career stats against him:

• Pete Alonso 0-2, 2 K
• José Azócar 0-1, K
• Francisco Lindor 1-3, HR, K
• Starling Marte 0-3, K
• Tyrone Taylor 0-1, K
• Luis Torrens 0-2, K
• Mark Vientos 1-2, K

Three Things to Watch For:

1. Hitting with RISP / Hitting home runs. Neither team did a good job hitting with runners in scoring position Tuesday night. The Mets went 0-for-7 and the Red Sox went 0-for-4. The two teams combined left only 13 runners on base – there just wasn’t a lot of hitting. But the Red Sox got a two solo home runs that made all the difference. The Mets as a team haven’t hit a home run since May 13th. At some point this will just course correct. It’s just happening during the Mets toughest stretch of games in the season to date.
2. Francisco Lindor. Before Tuesday night’s game Lindor was mired in a 1-for-21 slump. He’s not out of it yet, but he had a positive night last night going 1-for-3 with a single that came off of his bat 107 mph. He also hit a scorching ground ball (98.6 mph) that unfortunately became a double play. He’s the only player on the Mets who has homered against tonight’s starter, Garrett Crochet.
3. Bullpens are in opposite places. The Red Sox effectively pitched a bullpen game Tuesday night with Buehler returning from the injured list limited to only two innings. Tonight they have the league leader in innings pitched, so they hoping to give most of the bullpen the night off (although several of their high leverage guys have now pitched in back-to-back games). The Mets are the opposite right now, only Kranick, Castillo and Buttó have pitched in the last two nights. With a day off tomorrow everyone else should be available tonight.

Let’s Go Mets!

The Mets look to snap their losing streak tonight. The bats have gone mostly silent for the Mets over the last week who have lost four of their last five games and are in their first collective rut of the season. The Mets had chances Monday night, but went 1-for-8 with runners in scoring position leaving six runners on base. Further, the Mets hit into three double plays Monday night, which easily erased their eight hits and 11 walks. The Mets bats seem a bit out of sync and hopefully tonight they can click back into gear.

Clay Holmes has pitched 48 2/3 innings (nine starts) this season with a 3.14 ERA, 3.10 FIP, 1.253 WHIP and a 124 ERA+. Holmes is coming off of a start where he allowed four runs over six innings, in a game where the Mets couldn’t score any runs. He has a three game streak of pitching exactly six innings, which was the big knock on his game at the start of the season. The only new concern is that he allowed three homeruns across his last two starts after allowing no home runs in his previous seven starts. The Red Sox have the following career numbers against Holmes:

• Wilyer Abreu 1-2, 2B, BB
• Alex Bregman 2-5
• Rafael Devers 1-5, BB
• Jarren Duran 0-4, 2 K
• David Hamilton 0-3, K
• Caddanne Rafaela 0-3, BB
• Rob Refsnyder 0-2, K
• Trevor Story 0-5
• Abraham Toro 0-1, K
• Connor Wong 1-3, 2B, K

The Red Sox expect Walker Buehler to return from the injured list tonight. Before his right shoulder injury, Buehler made six starts totaling 33 2/3 innings with a 4.28 ERA, 4.29 FIP, 1.218 WHIP and a 98 ERA+. The last time he faced the Mets was in the NLCS where he shutout them out over four innings, limited the Mets to only three hits while striking out six. The Mets have the following career stats against him:

• Pete Alonso 5-16, 4 HR, 2 K
• Francisco Alvarez 0-2, 2 K
• Francisco Lindor 1-4, HR, K
• Starling Marte 2-7, 2 2B, BB, 2 K
• Jeff McNeil 1-9, BB, 2 K
• Brandon Nimmo 3-12, 3B, 2 BB, K
• Juan Soto 4-17, 2 BB, 3 K
• Tyrone Taylor 1-3, 2B, BB
• Luis Torrens 0-3, K
• Mark Vientos 1-2, K

Three Things To Watch For:

1. Francisco Lindor. The Mets need their sparkplug back! Lindor has gone 1-for-22 at the plate in his last six games (.045/.154/.091) and the Mets as a team have won only two of those games. He is hitless in his last two games. Before this cold streak, Lindor went 11-for-23 over four games. Hopefully tonight is the start of another hot streak.
2. Bad Luck. Outside of a Soto single that would have been a home run at one other ball park, the batted balls for the Mets more or less fell as expected. Sunday night was another story for the Mets. The Mets hit five balls Sunday night that were outs with an expected batting average of .410 or better. This included a flyout from Pete Alonso that would have been a home run at three ball parks. These are the type of at bats that can prolong slumps, but also are the type of at bats that show the hitter is going to hit their way out of it.
3. Defense. Defense. Monday night was an adventure for Pete Alonso who had the yips early in the game and then made a terrific play later in the game. Part of Clay Holmes success this year has been ground balls. Batters are hitting grounders 52.9% of the time, good for the 85th percentile. The Mets fielding will need to be on point tonight for Holmes to have a successful night.

Let’s Go Mets!

The Mets are shipping up to Boston after a disappointing night in the Bronx. The Mets had the late Sunday night game and were in the game the whole night until the bottom of the 8th where the wheels fell off. We’ve seen this Mets team bounce back well from disappointing and weird losses – hopefully that happens again tonight!

The schedule doesn’t get easier for the Mets who start a road trip to the second place Red Sox before heading across the country to play the first place Dodgers. The Red Sox are actually two games below .500 right now after going 4-6 in their last 10 games. They are sixth in the league in runs scored but have also allowed the 8th most runs to score.

Kodai Senga draws another tough offense tonight. He is off to a brilliant start, pitching 44 1/3 innings with a 1.02 ERA, 2.84 FIP, 1.173 WHIP and a 382 ERA+. Over this last three starts he has allowed only two runs, one earned, over 15 2/3 innings (0.57 ERA, 2.83 FIP) while striking out 17 batters. This includes holding the high octane Arizona Diamondbacks offense to only one run over two starts. The Red Sox have the following career numbers against Senga:

• Rafael Devers 0-2
• Jarren Duran 1-2
• Conor Wong 1-1

The Mets bats will get a look at rookie Hunter Dobbins tonight, making his sixth career start. Over his first five games (27 2/3 innings) he has a 3.90 ERA, 3.49 FIP, 1.301 WHIP and a 107 ERA+. His starts in May have been a bit wild. He’s either fantastic (no runs over six innings against the Royals), or not (nine runs over 10 2/3 innings against the Twins and the Tigers).

Three Things To Watch For:

1. Mets top three hitters. The Mets lineup as a whole struggled on Sunday, getting only three hits. The top three hitters (Lindor, Soto, Alonso) went a combined 0-for-12 with four strikeouts and no walks. Highly unusual for this group! The Mets are going to need their hitters to step up tonight in another ballpark with funky dimensions.
2. Let last night roll off. In addition to not hitting Sunday night, the Mets struggled with fielding. Vientos had an unfortunate error early that led to a run scoring inning. Alonso had errant throw late that led to a huge inning for the Yankees. These things happen. The Mets are at their best when they can let their mistakes stay in past and not spiral into future games.
3. Potential big round number for Lindor. Francisco Lindor is sitting at 798 career RBI’s. A good night at the plate or a good series at the plate and he could be at 800 before the flight to LA! For context, Lindor is tied at 522 on the RBI career leader board and getting to 800 would move Lindor up to 516. He’ll be in the top 500 by the end of this season.

Let’s Go Mets!