St. Louis Cardinals vs New York Mets
RHP Adam Wainwright vs RHP Matt Harvey
Starting Lineup
- Jordany Valdespin – 2B
- Omar Quintanilla – SS
- David Wright – 3B
- Daniel Murphy – 1B
- Lucas Duda – LF
- Marlon Byrd – RF
- John Buck – C
- Kirk Nieuwenhuis – CF
- Matt Harvey – RHP
Game Notes
The Mets have had six weather postponements this season, the most of any major league team. The Mets will play a doubleheader at Atlanta on June 18, a single game at Colorado on June 27, a split doubleheader at Washington on July 26, a single contest at Minnesota on August 19 and a single-admission doubleheader on September 14 vs. Miami.
The Mets are 9-16 in day games this year, including 4-10 at home. David Wright is ninth in the NL with a .351 batting average during the day.
The Mets hit three home runs (Lucas Duda, David Wright, Marlon Byrd) last night. It was the club’s third three-home run game in the last seven games (also June 2 at Miami and June 5 at Washington). It was the seventh time this season the Mets had three or more home runs in a game. The Mets hit three or more home runs eight times last year.
The Mets have hit 11 home runs over their last seven games, including five in their last three contests. New York has hit 30 home runs in 33 home games. The Mets had 67 home runs in 82 home games last year.
Mets starting pitchers have collected seven consecutive quality starts at home, compiling a 1.68 ERA (nine earned runs/48.1 innings) over this run, which began on May 26. Over the team’s last 16 games, Mets starters have compiled a 2.99 ERA (34 earned runs/102.1 innings) with 97 strikeouts.
Matt Harvey is undefeated after his first 13 starts of a season extending his franchise record. Dating back to his final start of 2012, he has gone 14 consecutive starts without a loss. Only four pitchers in Mets history have gone at least 15 straight starts without a loss: Johan Santana (18; 7/4/08-4/6/09), Dwight Gooden (18; 5/30/85-8/25/85), Tom Seaver (18; 8/9/69-5/6/70) and R.A. Dickey (16; 4/25/12-7/19/12).
Harvey has eight no-decisions in his last nine starts. This marks the 29th time in major league history that a starting pitcher received eight no-decisions in a nine-start span within one season (with no relief appearances during that streak). Harvey’s 2.66 ERA over those nine starts is the lowest in any of those 29 sequences. The previous low was a 3.07 ERA by Cincinnati’s Erik Hanson from June 12-July 28 in 1994. Harvey is third in the NL with a 2.10 ERA and is fourth in the NL with 95 strikeouts.
Opponents have swung and missed at least 10 times in each of Matt Harvey’s last 16 starts, the longest current streak against any major league pitcher. Harvey is the first pitcher in Mets history with four or more strikeouts and three or fewer walks in 19 consecutive starts. Surpassed Dwight Gooden’s streak of 16 such performances in 1985. Harvey’s streak is the longest in the majors since Cliff Lee had 24 straight such starts from July 4, 2012-May 6, 2013.
The Mets six minor league teams (Las Vegas, Binghamton, St. Lucie, Savannah and the two Dominican League teams) have combined for a .565 (156-120) winning percentage, the third-best among major league teams. Only Texas (.574) and Houston (.566) are better.
Left-handed reliever Jack Leathersich was promoted to Las Vegas (AAA) after last night’s game. Leathersich was 2-0 with three saves and a 1.53 ERA (five earned runs/29.1 innings) in 24 games with Binghamton (AA). Leathersich had 55 strikeouts in those 29.1 innings. Leathersich has 194 strikeouts in 114.0 innings during his minor league career.
Game Preview
The Mets and Cardinals play the rubber game of the series today, which also falls on Matt Harvey Day! In a slightly, not as exciting theme, Harvey Day is once again “really bad weather day”. The tri-state is looking at another 1-2 inches of rain today, so it will be interesting to see if the Mets can get this game in today. Anyway, last night the Mets finally won again thanks to a third great start in a row by Dillon Gee and solo homers by Duda, Wright and Byrd. Harvey goes up against a villain in Mets history: Adam Wainwright.
Matt Harvey is 5-0 on the season while pitching 13 games over 90.0 innings of work with a 2.10 ERA and 95 strikeouts. After having a bad start two starts ago, Harvey bounced back with a 7.0 inning, 1 run performance. The Mets bats however decided to dip out for the season day, so the Mets ended up losing in 20 innings. He faced the Cardinals last season allowing 3 ER over 5.0 innings while striking out 4 batters. The Cardinals have the following numbers against Harvey:
Craig 1-3
Freese 1-3
Holliday 0-3
Jay 1-2
Molina 1-2
Adam Wainwright is 9-3 on the season over 13 starts with a 2.34 ERA while pitching 96.0 innings. He leads the league with 3 complete games and 2 complete game shutouts (and wins too). One of his losses this year came from the Mets who got 6 hits and 4 runs, 3 earned, over 6.0 innings. The Mets have the following numbers against him:
Wright 3-12, 2 2B
Buck 1-11, HR
Byrd 3-11, 2B
Duda 2-5, 2B, HR
Murphy 6-9, 2 2B, 3B
Omar Q 4-9, 2 2B
Lets Go Mets!
