David Peterson. Vincent Carchietta-USA TODAY Sports

Sunday, August 27, 2023 • 12:05 PM
Citi Field • Flushing, New York
RHP Griffin Canning (7-4, 4.61) vs. LHP David Peterson (3-7, 5.59)
Peacock

The New York Mets look to avoid being swept this afternoon at Citi Field as they take on the Los Angeles Angels for the nationally televised early game on Peacock. Last night, the Angels were able to knock Carlos Carrasco out of the game early and the Mets’ bats couldn’t get anything consistent going. The only positive for the Mets was the bullpen tossed 7 1/3 scoreless innings after Carrasco exited.

Mets Lineup:

  1. Brandon Nimmo, CF
  2. Francisco Lindor, SS
  3. Jeff McNeil, 2B
  4. Pete Alonso, 1B
  5. Daniel Vogelbach, DH
  6. Francisco Álvarez, C
  7. D.J. Stewart, RF
  8. Mark Vientos, 3B
  9. Rafael Ortega, LF

David Peterson looks to give the bullpen some time off today as he makes his 16th start of the season. Over 77 1/3 innings, he has a 5.59 ERA, 4.94 FIP, 1.668 WHIP, and a 75 ERA+.

Over his last three starts, he has allowed seven runs via 14 hits and 10 walks over only 12 innings of work. His strikeout numbers are up (14 in that stretch), but he’s throwing way too many pitches per inning. His last outing he tossed 4 2/3 which was the deepest he’s gone since returning to the rotation.

The Angels have the following career numbers against him:

Angels Lineup:

  1. Luis Rengifo, 2B
  2. Shohei Ohtani, DH
  3. Brandon Drury, 1B
  4. Eduardo Escobar, 3B
  5. Randal Grichuk, LF
  6. Hunter Renfroe, RF
  7. Mickey Moniak, CF
  8. Chad Wallach, C
  9. Andrew Velazquez, SS

The Mets’ bats will try to break out of their funk against Griffin Canning. Canning has pitched 91 2/3 innings over 18 games with a 4.61 ERA, 4.63 FIP, 1.255 WHIP, and a 98 ERA+. Over his last four starts, he has a 4.58 ERA and 2.93 FIP across 17 2/3 innings, but this is being inflated by one start where he allowed four runs in 3 2/3 innings.

Only two Mets have seen him before in a major league game. Daniel Vogelbach is 0-for-2 against him with two strikeouts and Omar Narváez is 2-for-2.

Game Notes

The Mets announced the following moves prior to Sunday’s game:

Lindor is on a 12-game hitting streak, batting .367 (18- 49) in that span with 12 runs, four doubles, two home runs, nine RBI, and three steals. His longest streak as a Met is 13 games.

Pete Alonso is tied for second in the majors and is second in the National League with 95 RBIs. He has previously recorded two seasons with 100 RBIs (120 in 2019 and 131 in 2022). He is seeking to become the fourth player in Mets history to record three or more seasons with 100 or more RBIs.

Jeff McNeil has safely hit in 18 of his last 21 games, batting .341 (28-82) with 14 runs, four doubles, three home runs, 13 RBIs, and five walks with a .500 SLG over that span.

Three Things To Watch For

  1. Daniel Vogelbach. Since August 12, Vogelbach has been hitting more like a designated hitter. He’s gone 10-for-37 at the plate with five of those hits being home runs. He’s slashing .278/.422/.694 over this stretch. From the start of the season to August 11 Vogelbach hit .214/.313/.348. Obviously a much larger sample size. There’s still about a month left in the season and it will be interesting to see what Vogelbach’s splits are, using this August 11th/12th cut-off.
  2. Brandon Nimmo. When the Mets were winning a whole bunch of games, Brandon Nimmo was on a hot streak. He’s now 0-for-17 over his last four games, including having a two strikeout game yesterday. The Mets’ offense just doesn’t function without Brandon Nimmo.
  3. The Bullpen. The bullpen put a lot of work in yesterday with only Sam Coonrod and Trevor Gott not pitching. The Mets don’t have another off day until Thursday. Knowing how the New York has treated the bullpen recently, someone is getting optioned, possibly even before today’s game to give the team more fresh arms. It’s important that David Peterson can go deep into this game and give the bullpen arms a rest.