Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports
In this weekly feature for MMO, I’m going to look back at the previous week’s games and share some interesting data and information that I’ve collected through various websites such as Baseball-Reference, FanGraphs, and Baseball Savant. It’ll be a mixture of facts, stats, analytics, and general analysis.
Let’s get into the seven days between May 29 and June 4.
Sunday, May 29, 2022
Phillies vs. Mets
Nick Plummer hit a game-tying, solo home run in the bottom of the ninth off Corey Knebel for his first career hit. Plummer became the 14th Mets player to hit a home run for his first major league hit and the first since Jeremy Hefner did so exactly ten years ago.
Plummer’s home run had an exit velocity of 112.8 mph. That’s the second-hardest hit home run by a Met this season, behind only Pete Alonso (113.7 mph on May 19).
The Mets scored three runs off Zack Wheeler in the first inning. Prior to this start, Wheeler had not surrendered a first-inning run in his previous eight starts in 2022.
Monday, May 30, 2022
Nationals vs. Mets
Nick Plummer went 3-for-4 with a double, home run and 4 RBI in the Mets’ 13-5 win. Plummer became the first Met to homer in his each of his first two career starts.
Playing in his fifth career game, Plummer became just the third Met to record 3 or more hits and 4 or more RBI within his first five big league games, joining Mike Jacobs (2005) and Steven Matz (2015).
Pete Alonso’s solo home run in the eighth was his 13th homer of the season, and the 119th of his career. That broke a tie with Ed Kranepool and gave Alonso sole possession of the 12th-most homers in franchise history.
Tuesday, May 31, 2022
Nationals vs. Mets
Mark Canha went 4-for-5 with a double and 2 RBI out of the leadoff spot in the Mets’ 10-0 win. Canha became the first Mets’ leadoff hitter with 4+ hits and 2+ RBI since Amed Rosario on August 16, 2018 in the first game of a doubleheader against the Philadelphia Phillies.
Wednesday, June 1, 2022
Nationals vs. Mets
The Mets shut out the Nationals by a score of 5-0. It was their ninth shutout of the season in their 52nd game. That tied the 1988 club for the most shutouts in their first 52 games of a season.
Tomás Nido went 4-for-4 with a double and three RBI in the Mets’ win. All four of his hits had an exit velocity over 98 mph. It was just the fourth time in the Statcast era (since 2015) that a Mets hitter recorded four hits that each had an exit velocity of 98+ mph. Juan Lagares (2015), Yoenis Céspedes (2017), and Pete Alonso (2019) are the others.
Francisco Lindor drove in a run in his 10th consecutive game with his sac-fly to center in the seventh inning. Lindor joined Mike Piazza (twice) as the only two Mets to drive in a run in at least 10 straight games. Piazza owns the franchise record with 15 games (2000).
Thursday, June 2, 2022
Mets vs. Dodgers
The Mets suffered their first shutout loss of the season in their 53rd game of the season. The club’s 52 games without being shut out was the fourth-longest streak in club history. The longest streak belongs to the 1986 Mets who were shut out in their 86th game of the season.
Friday, June 3, 2022
Mets vs. Dodgers
Pete Alonso homered in the top of the seventh for his 14th blast of the season. It was career No. 120 for Alonso, which tied him with Edgardo Alfonzo for the 11th-most home runs in franchise history.
Alonso’s solo homer came on the first pitch of his at-bat in the seventh. It was the 28th home run of Alonso’s career that he hit on the first pitch. Since pitch count tracking began in 1988, only three Mets have hit 28 or more homers on the first pitch: David Wright (32), Mike Piazza (28), and Alonso (28).
Saturday, June 4, 2022
Mets vs. Dodgers
Pete Alonso hit two home runs in the Mets’ 9-4 win. Alonso tied Kevin McReynolds for the 10th-most homers in Mets history.
With five RBIs in the win, Pete Alonso reached the 50-RBI mark, becoming the first Met to drive in 50 runs in the club’s first 55 games of a season.
Colin Holderman struck out Mookie Betts in the fourth for his 14th strikeout of the season. In nine appearances, Holderman has 14 strikeouts to just one walk. He’s the first Mets pitcher to strike out at least 14 while allowing no more than one walk in his first nine big league games.
The nine runs the Mets scored were the most runs they’ve scored against the Los Angeles Dodgers on the road since August 24, 2014 (11 runs).
Pete Alonso drove in his 300th career run. Since 2019, he’s the only player with 100+ home runs and 300+ RBI.
