Saturday, July 8, 2017 • 4:15 p.m. (ET)
Busch Stadium • St. Louis, MO
RHP Zack Wheeler (3-5, 5.01) vs. RHP Adam Wainwright (9-5, 5.48)
SNY • MLBN • WOR 710 AM • 104.3 WAXQ-FM HD 2 • ESPN 1050 AM
The Mets play game two with the Cardinals this afternoon. Today is also a 7 Line Army game! Are you going to the game? Do you want to meet up? Please reach out to me on Twitter @213mfs!
New York snapped its three-game losing streak last night. The Mets have won eight of their last 12. The Mets are 20-21 on the road and have won six of their last nine away from Citi Field. New York improved to 12-12 in one-run games.
METS LINEUP
- Curtis Granderson – CF
- Asdrubal Cabrera – 2B
- Yoenis Céspedes – LF
- Jay Bruce – RF
- T.J. Rivera – 3B
- Lucas Duda – 1B
- Jose Reyes – SS
- Travis d’Arnaud – C
- Zack Wheeler – RHP
CARDINALS LINEUP
- Matt Carpenter – 2B
- Stephen Piscotty – RF
- Tommy Pham – CF
- Jedd Gyorko – 3B
- Yadier Molina – C
- Luke Voit – 3B
- Randal Grichuk – LF
- Paul DeJong – SS
- Adam Wainwright – RHP
Zack Wheeler gets the start this afternoon as the Mets use the rain out on Wednesday to skip Rafael Montero’s spot in the rotation. Wheeler is 3-5 over 14 starts and 70 innings this year with a 5.01 ERA, 4.80 FIP and 1.514 WHIP.
In his return from the DL, he allowed two hits and two walks in 3 2/3 innings against the Phillies leading to two unearned runs. With the Cards being in a different division, and Wheeler’s recent injury woes the last couple of years, the only person on the Cardinals roster who has seen Wheeler is Gyorko who is 0-3 with three strikeouts.
The Mets get a look at an old foe, embedded in Mets lore, Adam Wainwright, who is 9-5 with a 5.48 ERA over 17 starts and 90 1/3 innings. He also owns a 3.87 FIP and 1.550 WHIP. His FIP is why I’m not getting my hopes up too much. While it is above his career mark of 3.24, it suggests that there are mistakes happening behind him leading to runs. In two starts against the Mets last year he allowed 20 hits and three walks over 11 2/3 innings leading to 11 runs, six of which were earned. The Mets have the following numbers against him:
- Bruce 12-for-41, 2 2B, 2 HR, 5 BB
- Granderson 2-for-15, 2B, BB
- Cespedes 3-for-14, HR, BB
- Duda 3-for-10, 2B, HR, 2 BB
- Reyes 1-for-13
- Cabrera 2-for-7, 2B
- Flores 2-for-5, 2B
- R. Rivera 1-for-5
NOTES:
The Mets have hit at least one home run in 36 of their 41 road games this year. The Mets have 78 home runs in 41 games on the road, the most in the majors. New York hit a franchise-record 106 home runs on the road last season.
The Mets have hit 41 homers in their last 23 games. Overall, the Mets have 128 home runs, the second-most in the NL and the sixth-most in the majors.
Jay Bruce is tied for sixth in the NL with 22 homers. He has 58 RBI, which is 13th in the NL and is 12th with 40 extra-base hits. Bruce is second in the NL with 13 road homers.
Bruce is the eighth player in team history to hit 22 or more home runs prior to the All-Star break. The last Mets with 22 or more home runs prior to the All-Star break was in 2006 when Carlos Beltrán had 25 first half homers and Carlos Delgado had 22. Bruce’s 22 first-half homers are a career-high.
Jay Bruce has 11 homers, six doubles, three triples and 34 RBI in 61 career games at Busch Stadium. Bruce’s 11 homers in Busch Stadium III are tied for the fourth-most by any opposing player who has never played for the Cardinals (Ryan Howard-13, Aramis Ramirez-12 and Joey Votto-12).
T.J. Rivera has hit in a career high-tying seven straight games, going 10-for-25 (.400) with three doubles, two home runs and six RBI. Over his last 20 contests, dating to June 10, Rivera is hitting .348 (24-for-69) with four doubles, three homers, eight runs scored and 10 RBI.
Jose Reyes has homered in back-to-back games. Reyes is hitting .400 (12-for-30) with four doubles, one triple, two home runs and five RBI in his last nine games. Reyes has 498 stolen bases. He would become the 39th player in major league history with 500 or more stolen bases.
Let’s Go Mets!
