Friday, June 21, 2019 • 2:20 p.m. (ET)
Wrigley Field • Chicago, IL
LHP Jason Vargas (3-3, 3.74) vs. RHP Yu Darvish (2-3, 4.65)
SNY • MLBN • WCBS 880 AM • ESPN 1050 AM
The Mets continuously teach me a lesson that I choose to ignore: don’t write game preview first thing in the morning when the game is 14 hours away. Things change. And yesterday they did. Once I was sufficiently far away from my computer, the Mets announced the firing of their pitching coach. As with most firings, I’m not terribly convinced this will make any significant difference outside of the “hey look we did something.” Anyway last night was a normal night for the Mets: they lost but Pete Alonso hit a homer!
Mets Lineup
- Jeff McNeil – RF
- Pete Alonso – 1B
- Robinson Cano – 2B
- Michael Conforto – CF
- J.D. Davis – 3B
- Dominic Smith – LF
- Adeiny Hechavarria – SS
- Tomas Nido – C
- Jason Vargas – LHP
Cubs Lineup
- Kyle Schwarber – LF
- Kris Bryant – RF
- Anthony Rizzo – 1B
- Javier Baez – SS
- Willson Contreras – C
- David Bote – 3B
- Albert Almora Jr. – CF
- Yu Darvish – RHP
- Addison Russell – 2B
Jason Vargas makes the matinee start today and thankfully isn’t on the IL. He left his last start early with leg cramps – the day after Syndergaard ended on the IL. On the season Vargas 3-3 over 12 games and 11 starts with 55.1 innings, a 3.74 ERA, 4.34 FIP, 1.337 WHIP and a 108 ERA+. Since April 19th he has started 9 games pitching 49.0 innings with a 2.39 ERA and an opponents batting average of .205. He made one start against the Cubs last year and it was a good one holding the Baby Bears to 1 run over 5.1 innings from 4 hits and 2 walks. The Cubbies have the following stats against Jason:
- Anthony Rizzo 1-8, BB, 2 K
- Carlos Gonzalez 1-7
- Albert Almora 0-2
- Kyle Schwarber 0-2, BB, 2 K
- Willson Contreras 1-2, 2B
The Mets bats draw Yu Darvish as they try to score enough runs so that the bullpen today can safely implode. Darvish is 2-3 over 15 games and 79.1 innings with a 4.65 ERA, 5.06 FIP, 1.387 WHIP and a 96 ERA+. He’s coming off of one of his best starts of the season where he held the Dodgers to 1 run over 7.0 innings from 2 hits and a walk while striking out 10. He hasn’t faced the Mets since 2017 where he allowed only 3 runs from 6 hits and 2 walks in two starts totaling 14.1 innings while striking out 19 batters. The Mets have the following stats against Yu:
- Robinson Cano 9-25, 2 2B, HR, BB, 3 K
- Michael Conforto 1-5, 3 K
- Adeiny Hechavarria 1-6, K
- Wilson Ramos 1-6, 4 K
- Todd Frazier 1-3
- Juan Lagares 1-3
- Amed Rosario 1-3
- Carlos Gomez 0-1, BB
Game Notes
The Mets own a .366 winning percentage on the road, the third-lowest in the majors and the lowest in the NL.
McNeil owns a .361 (44-122) batting average with 18 runs scored, 12 doubles, a triple, two home runs, 12 RBI, 10 walks, a .418 OBP and a .943 OPS on the road this year.
Pete Alonso has tied the National League record with 25 homers before the All-Star break. He’s also one homer shy of tying the Mets rookie home run record set by Darryl Strawberry.
McNeil is making his first MLB start in right field and Conforto his first action in center field this year.
Let’s Go Mets!
