Friday, August 11, 2023 • 7:10 PM
Citi Field • Flushing, New York
RHP Charlie Morton (10-10, 3.86) vs. RHP Tylor Megill (6-5, 5.45)
SNY

The Mets are fresh from a winning series for the first time since the trade deadline as they welcome the Braves to New York for a four-game series. There’s a doubleheader tomorrow due to a rainout way earlier in the season when the Mets were not exactly healthy yet. That created this massive four-game series after the trade deadline, possibly a battle for the division. Anyway, the Mets are ten games below .500 now and the Braves are 31 games above.

Mets Lineup

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

Tylor Megill makes his second start since returning to the major leagues last Saturday. It definitely wasn’t a good start against the strong Baltimore lineup last week as he allowed five runs on nine hits, including two homers over 4 2/3 innings. Over 16 starts this season, he has a 5.45 ERA, 5.24 FIP, 1.684 WHIP and a 76 ERA+. Megill started against the Braves back in May, where he allowed three runs from four hits and three walks over 5 2/3 innings. The Braves have the following career numbers against him:

Opposing Lineup

  1. Ronald Acuña Jr. – RF
  2. Ozzie Albies – 2B
  3. Austin Riley – 3B
  4. Matt Olson – 1B
  5. Travis d’Arnaud – C
  6. Marcell Ozuna – DH
  7. Eddie Rosario – LF
  8. Orlando Arcia – SS
  9. Michael Harris II – CF

Charlie Morton has made 22 starts totaling 123 2/3 innings with a 3.86 ERA, 4.09 FIP, 1.439 WHIP and a 117 ERA+. In his last four starts though, he has pitched 19 2/3 innings, allowing 16 runs from 22 hits and 15 walks, leading to a 7.32 ERA and 6.26 FIP. He’s also allowed eight runs over 10 innings in two starts (four runs in each) against the Mets this season. Between Megill and Morton’s numbers, this could potentially be a long night at Citi Field. The Mets have the following stats against Charlie:

Game Notes

Right-handed pitcher Denyi Reyes has a locker at Citi Field. He was scheduled to start for Triple-A Syracuse on Friday night. He has struggled to the tune of a 6.14 ERA in Triple-A, but is coming off seven innings of one-run ball in his most recent start.

Make sure to check out our Series Preview!

Three Things To Watch For

  1. Pete Alonso. Pete Alonso hit his fourth homer in three games on Wednesday night, becoming the first Met to have at least four seasons of 35 homers or more. He is still on pace to finish with 50 homers for the season, and if he can keep this hot streak going through this weekend with four games, we could potentially be talking about Alonso breaking the Mets record for homers in a season (the record he set in his rookie year). This is potentially the most exciting story to follow for the Mets right now.
  2. Trevor Gott. Gott has quietly been putting up solid numbers over his last eight outings since July 23rd. Over that stretch, he has pitched 7 1/3 innings allowing five hits and three walks while striking out eight. He hasn’t allowed any runs during that time and his FIP is a 2.72. In his first seven games as a Met (July 6th through the 22nd), he allowed seven runs, six earned, over 4 2/3 innings (11.57 ERA and 5.62 FIP).
  3. Adam Ottavino. Adam had a rough outing on Wednesday. He came into the game with a two-run lead and promptly allowed a solo homer, a hit, a walk and a balk. He was then removed from the inning without recording any outs. He also had a blown save in a game the Mets eventually lost on August 1st. It would be nice to see Ottavino in some chances this weekend to rebuild some positive momentum.

Let’s go Mets!