Starting Lineup
- Mike Baxter – RF
- Daniel Murphy – 2B
- David Wright – 3B
- Ike Davis – 1B
- Lucas Duda – LF
- John Buck – C
- Rick Ankiel – CF
- Ruben Tejada – SS
- Shaun Marcum – RHP
Game Notes
The Mets scored four times in the sixth inning last night. It was the first time in eight games the Mets had plated more than three runs. New York has scored three or fewer runs in 12 of their last 17 games.
Marlon Byrd had a double and two-run homer for the Mets Tuesday night, and hopes the team can finally begin to generate some offense after breaking a string of scoring three runs or less in their seven previous games. “It’s been tough for us,” he said. “We’re still working and we have to stick to our approach. We know we can score runs. We did in April. We just have to get back to that.”
Dillon Gee saw his record fall to 2-5 after allowing nine hits and six runs, five earned, in four innings of work. “I don’t know what’s going on,” he said. “I didn’t feel all that bad tonight. I’m a ground-ball guy and I think seven ground-ball hits got through. I don’t know what else to do. That’s what I’m trying to do. It seems like a recurring thing right now that every single one of them finds their way through.”
Justin Turner made his 14th career start at shortstop Tuesday and didn’t make an error, though he appeared to dive over a ball hit by Pete Kozma in the third inning that resulted in a run. Turner was taking the spot of Ruben Tejada, who is hitting .229 this season.
Shaun Marcum will make his fourth start for the Mets, still seeking his first victory. He also has never won a game in St. Louis, in his home state, having not earned a decision in two career starts at Busch Stadium. His last start came last September, for the Brewers, when he gave up first-inning home runs to Matt Holliday and Carlos Beltran. Marcum grew up and graduated from Excelsior Springs High School, near Kansas City, and then attended Missouri State in Springfield.
Josh Edgin will join Triple-A Las Vegas, according to Binghamton Mets beat reporter Lynn Worthy of the Press & Sun-Bulletin. Edgin is no longer with the Binghamton Mets team and is will join the 51s tonight.
Relief prospect Jack Leathersich struck out four over 2.0 scoreless innings for Binghamton (AA) vs. Akron to earn his first win of the year…Leathersich has struck 33 over 17.2 innings in 13 appearances. He has a 2.0 4 ERA (four earned runs/17.2 innings) with three holds and one save.
Game Preview
For the second time this season, the Mets have lost 5 games in a row. Last time the streak went to 6 games and hopefully the Mets bats and Shaun Marcum can prevent that from happening tonight. Last night the Mets bats seemed beat against the rookie pitcher until the 6th inning when they scored 4 runs in the inning. It was the first time since May 5th they scored more than 3 runs in a game and the first time since May 1st that they scored 4 in an inning. Gee and Carson made it difficult last night as well as they allowed 5 and 4 each early on. Tonight Marcum will face off against Shelby Miller.
Shaun Marcum is 0-3 to start off his Mets career with a 8.59 ERA. He hasn’t been pitching deep into games and overall he hasn’t looked effective on the mound at all allowing hit after hit after hit. Last year he faced the Cardinals once allowing 4 ER and 8 hits over 5 innings of work. The Cardinals have the following numbers against him:
Wigginton 4-17
Holliday 4-14, 2 HR
Jon Jay 7-14, 2B
Molina 3-12, 2B
Freese 2-10, HR
Beltran 1-6, HR
The Mets bats will look to build off of the 6th inning yesterday as they go to battle with Shelby Miller tonight. This year Miller has been 5-2 with a 1.58 ERA over 45.2 innings while striking out 51 batters – Harvey-esque stats. Last year he came in relief against the Mets allowing one hit and no runs over 2 innings of work while striking out 4 batters. The Mets have the following numbers against Miller:
Baxter 0-1
Duda 0-1
Davis 0-1
Murphy 1-1
Tejada 0-1
