Starting Lineup
- Ruben Tejada – SS
- Daniel Murphy – 2B
- David Wright – 3B
- Lucas Duda – DH
- John Buck – C
- Rick Ankiel – CF
- Marlon Byrd – RF
- Ike Davis – 1B
- Mike Baxter – LF
Game Notes
The Mets have won three games in a row for the second time this year. New York won three straight from April 6-8. The Mets won their second straight one-run game and improved to 8-8 in one-run decisions after starting the year 1-6 in such games. The last time the Mets won back-to-back games vs. the Yankees was when they won three straight from May 22-June 18, 2010.
Lucas Duda collected his second career walk-off RBI last night. Duda joined Matt Franco (July 10, 1999), David Wright (May 19, 2006) and Jason Bay (July 3, 2011) as Mets who have had walk-off hits against the Yankees. Duda’s other walk-off hit came on August 8, 2011 vs. San Diego. It was the Mets fifth walk-off win this year. New York’s five walk-off wins are tied for the second-most in the majors with Cleveland and Seattle. San Francisco is first with seven. The Mets had six walk-off victories in 2012.
New York’s last six wins at home have come in its final at-bat, the longest streak in team history. The Mets had five straight home wins in their final at-bat from May 13-June 2, 1989. The last major league team with six straight home victories in its last at-bat was the Cleveland Indians, April 29-May 20, 2011. Overall, New York has eight last at-bat wins, tied for the fifth-most in the majors this year.
The Mets are 5-1 this year in Interleague play. They were 8-7 vs. the AL last season. The Mets are 140-128 all time in Interleague play. The 140 wins are the fourth-most among NL clubs.
The Mets are 8-12 on the road this year. Daniel Murphy ranks third in the NL with a .386 batting average on the road while David Wright is sixth with a .359 mark.
Over the last seven games, Mets starters have posted a 2.98 ERA (15 earned runs/45.1 innings). Overall, Mets starters have a 4.34 ERA, ranking 22nd in the majors. Tonight’s starter Jeremy Hefner has recorded a 3.89 ERA (16 earned runs/37.0 innings) over his last six starts. Five of his nine starts have been quality starts.
For the second straight night vs. the Yankees, David Wright tied the game. On Monday, he hit a solo home run in the seventh inning. Last night, he had an RBI single in the ninth. Wright is hitting .310 (9-29) with two home runs and five RBI in close and late situations this year.
Daniel Murphy has at least one hit in 13 of his last 16 games, batting .397 (25-63) with two home runs and nine RBI over that clip. Murphy collected his 16th double last night and is tied for second in the NL this season. Since the start of 2012 season, he has 56 doubles, the second-most in the NL.
Matt Harvey fanned 10 batters last night, his third double-digit strikeout game this season. The three double-digit strikeout games are the most in the NL and it was Harvey’s fifth career game with 10 or more strikeouts in 21 starts. The only Mets pitcher with more such outings in his first 21 games was Dwight Gooden, who had eight.
Brandon Nimmo went 0-for-5 Tuesday with Savannah, in his first game since April 29. Nimmo, the organization’s 2011 first-round pick, had dealt with a bruised hand and then a back issue. In a drought spanning the absence, Nimmo is now hitless in his last 25 at-bats. But because of a torrid start with the Gnats, Nimmo nonetheless is hitting .305.
Game Preview
The Mets go for four in a row and a season series victory against the Yankees tonight as the Mets travel East on the 7 and North on the 4 to the Bronx tonight. For a third game in a row last night, the Mets received excellent starting pitching and the offense didn’t come around until the bullpen did, just doing enough to get the win. Last night, it was Harvey with the excellent start and the offense did nada until the 9th when they were able to squeeze out two runs for the win. Tonight Jeremy Hefner gets the nod as he goes up against David Phelps.
Jeremy Hefner is 0-5 on the season over 10 games and 9 starts while pitching 51.0 innings with a 4.76 ERA. He pitched good enough to win last time out allowing 2 ER over 6 innings while striking out 7 but then the Mets happened and that went away. Last year he logged one scoreless inning against the Yankees striking out one batter. Since he only worked one inning, and the Yankees are full of injuries, there is no one on the active roster for the Yankees that he has faced.
The Mets bats look to breakout against David Phelps tonight who is 3-2 this season over 11 games, 5 starts while pitching 50.0 innings with a 3.96 ERA. May has been the only month that he has started, and as a starter he is 2-1 over 33.0 innings with a 3.27 ERA. He has never faced the Mets and has never faced any batters on the Mets roster.
