Mets (72-85) at Reds (90-68) • 12:35 PM
RHP Daisuke Matsuzaka (2-3, 5.52) vs. RHP Mat Latos (14-6, 3.23)
Starting Lineup
- Eric Young, Jr. – LF
- Justin Turner – 3B
- Daniel Murphy – 2B
- Lucas Duda – 1B
- Juan Lagares – CF
- Mike Baxter – RF
- Juan Centeno – C
- Wilfredo Tovar – SS
- Daisuke Matsuzaka – RHP
The Mets are 4-1 on their road trip which concludes today and are 7-3 in their last 10 games. The Mets are 31-35 since the All-Star break (16-17 on the road) and will play their final road game of the 2013 season today. New York is 40-40 on the road this year…The .500 road winning percentage is tied for the fourth-best mark in the National League.
Vic Black earned his first major league save last night closing out the 4-2 victory. Black was acquired from the Pirates along with minor league infielder Dilson Herrera on August 27 in exchange for John Buck and Marlon Byrd…Black had 17 saves for Indianapolis (AAA) of the International League this season.
Juan Lagares threw out Shin-Soo Choo at home plate in the first inning for his 13th outfield assist of the season establishing a new team record for rookies. Tsuyoshi Shinjo had 12 outfield assists in 2001. Lagares leads all rookies and is tied for fourth in the majors with his 13 outfield assists. He also ranks fifth among NL rookies with 21 doubles, 10th with 33 RBI, seventh with six stolen bases and eighth with 25 multi-hit games.
Daniel Murphy has hit in six straight games, going 9-24 (.375) and is hitting .352 (37-105) with 19 runs scored, 10 doubles and 17 RBI since August 28. Murphy is third in the NL with 182 hits and is eighth with 92 runs scored. He also has 52 multi-hit games this season, tied for the fourth-most in the NL.
Game Preview
The Mets squeaked out a win last night against the Reds behind Murphy’s 13th homer of the season (remember when he led the Mets a few years ago with 12 on the year?). Anyway Daisuke Matsuzaka gets the start for the Amazin’s tonight. He is 2-3 over 6 games this season with a 5.52 ERA over 31.0 innings of work. In his last three games he has allowed 6 runs over 18.2 innings, but only 4 of those runs are earned, so he has a 1.93 ERA in that span, which is slightly unbelievable. He has never faced the Reds, but has the following numbers against a few of their players:
Choo 4-14, 2 HR
Izturis 2-9
Hannahan 0-6
Ludwick 1-1
Mat Latos is 14-6 over 31 starts this year with a 3.23 ERA and 203.2 innings of work. He is 1-1 over 4 starts in September pitching 28.2 innings with a 4.40 ERA. Against the Mets earlier this season he allowed 4 ER over 6.2 innings. The Mets have the following number against Mat:
Wright 2-14, 2B, HR
Murphy 5-12, 2 2B
Duda 3-9, 2 2B
Tejada 2-8, 2 2B
Young 2-8, 3B
Baxter 1-4
Lets Go Mets!
