Tuesday, July 16, 2019 • 8:10 p.m. E.T.
Target Field • Minneapolis, MN
LHP Steven Matz (5-6, 4.89) vs. RHP Michael Pineda (6-4, 4.56)
SNY • WCBS 880 AM • ESPN 1050 AM

Sunday was an improbable day for the Mets. A pleasantly unusual day. The type of day that makes you wonder: too many good things happened today, I’m sure something bad is going to happen. Why was it such a good day?

  • The Mets won a rubber game
  • Meaning the Mets actually won a series
  • And it was a Sunday, the Mets never win those
  • We haven’t even mentioned yet that it was on the ROAD. It’s been forever since the Mets won one of those
  • Jacob deGrom started and the Mets scored more than 3 runs
  • Robinson Cano homered in back to back days

That feels great, right? Well something bad did happen, Wheeler was placed on the IL for arm fatigue. The “armchair” GM in me (really not trying to make a pun here y’all) in me feels that this related to the Mets rushing Wheeler out twice before the All-Star break.

The Mets are pulling Matz out of the bullpen and into the rotation again as a stopgap measure (although Matz should have been returning to the rotation anyway). He is 5-6 over 81.0 innings and 18 games, 16 starts, this year with a 4.89 ERA, 5.40 FIP, 1.481 WHIP and 83 ERA+. After a terrible series of starts, he was mostly alright in the bullpen (meaning he didn’t allow any runs) but still managed to allow 3 hits over 1.0 innings split over two games. C.J. Cron is the only batter on the Twins roster who has seen Matz in a game and has gone 1-2 with a double and a walk.

Mets Lineup

  1. Jeff McNeil – RF
  2. Michael Conforto – CF
  3. Pete Alonso – 1B
  4. Robinson Cano – 2B
  5. Wilson Ramos – C
  6. Dominic Smith – LF
  7. Todd Frazier – 3B
  8. J.D. Davis – DH
  9. Amed Rosario – SS

Twins Lineup

  1. Jorge Polanco – SS
  2. Marwin Gonzalez – RF
  3. Nelson Cruz – DH
  4. Eddie Rosario – LF
  5. C.J. Cron – 1B
  6. Max Kepler – CF
  7. Miguel Sano – 3B
  8. Jonathan Schoop – 2B
  9. Jason Castro

The Mets get to see an old Yankee today – Michael Pineda! Pineda is 6-4 over 17 starts and 92.2 innings with a 4.56 ERA, 4.29 FIP, 1.176 WHIP and 99 ERA+. Before the All-Star break Pineda put together back to back starts of allowing 1 run over 6.0 innings which dropped his ERA from 5.02. Outside of bad start on June 23rd (5 runs over 5.0 innings) Pineda has been a different pitcher in his last 5 games allowing only 9 runs in 28.2 innings, a 2.83 ERA (and remember 5 of those runs are from one game). The last time he faced the Mets was in 2015, and he was quite good allowing only 2 run over 13.0 innings, but that was a very different Mets roster. The Mets have the following numbers against Pineda:

Game Notes

Matz is 2-6 with a 7.07 ERA (33 earned runs/42.0 innings) on the road this season with 34 punchouts and 15 of his 18 home runs allowed.

Zack Wheeler says he has a shoulder impingement and his MRI was “pretty much clean.”

In his last 11 games, Robinson Cano is batting .395 (17- 43) with five runs, a double, two homers, a walk, a .422 OBP and a .558 SLG.

Let’s Go Mets!