Friday, August 18, 2023 • 8:15 PM
Busch Stadium • St. Louis, Missouri
LHP Joey Lucchesi (1-0, 4.43) vs. LHP Zack Thompson (2-4, 3.96)
SNY

The Mets have won four of their last five games. For the second game in a row, everything looked pretty good with the Mets. They got an excellent start from Quintana, the offense provided just enough, and the bullpen held things down. This is the type of run that makes you start wondering about what if things were a little different in June and July. Can the Mets keep this up through the weekend?

Wendell Cruz-USA TODAY Sports

Mets Lineup

  1. Brandon Nimmo – DH
  2. Tim Locastro – LF
  3. Pete Alonso – 1B
  4. Francisco Lindor – SS
  5. Francisco Álvarez – C
  6. Jeff McNeil – RF
  7. Danny Mendick – 2B
  8. Rafael Ortega – CF
  9. Jonathan Araúz – 3B

The Mets have three open spots in their rotation next season and Joey Lucchesi is still on this team. Tonight he gets a spot start to give Kodai Senga an extra start of rest. For Lucchesi, this is definitely an audition for next year. With the Mets this year, Lucchesi made five starts totaling 22 1/3 innings with a 4.43 ERA, 5.14 FIP, 1.343 WHIP and a 95 ERA+. Over 12 games in Syracuse, he’s tossed 67 2/3 innings with a 3.99 ERA. He has been on the injured list for about the last month, healing from a knee injury. He’s had two solid starts in Brooklyn, allowing only one run from five hits over eight innings. Last time out, he tossed a bit above 60 innings, so it will probably be a longer night for the bullpen. The Cardinals have the following career numbers against him:

Opposing Lineup

  1. Tommy Edman – CF
  2. Paul Goldschmidt – DH
  3. Nolan Arenado – 3B
  4. Willson Contreras – C
  5. Tyler O’Neill – LF
  6. Jordan Walker – RF
  7. Luken Baker – 1B
  8. José Fermin – 2B
  9. Masyn Winn – SS

The Mets bats will get a look at Zack Thompson. Thompson has pitched in 17 games this season, but only relieved, totaling 25 innings. Over those 25 innings, he has a 3.96 ERA, 3.02 FIP, 1.480 WHIP, and a 110 ERA+. His only start came on August 6th, where he allowed one run off two hits over four innings against the Rockies. On the 11th, the Cardinals used an opener to start the game, and then Thompson came in to pitch the next four innings, allowing one run from four hits. Over those combined eight innings he has struck out 13 batters. Thompson also increased the total pitches he had thrown from 60 to 73, so his arm is getting some length (besides that, he has thrown 30+ pitches only twice this season). Only two Mets have seen Zack Thompson in a major league game: Daniel Vogelbach (0-for-3) and Rafael Ortega (1-for-1, BB).

Game Notes

Francisco Lindor enters the day with the highest fWAR among all shortstops going back to the start of the 2021 season.

Pete Alonso is second in the National League with 37 home runs and 91 RBIs.

I wrote about why Luke Ritter and Carlos Cortes should get a chance with the Mets, particularly when they put out lineups like Fridays. Both of them homered on Thursday night.

Three Things To Watch For

  1. Pete Alonso. Pete has homered in two consecutive games, bringing his season total to 37. Since July 25th, Alonso has homered 11 times in 23 games. He’s hitting .268/.378/.707 over that stretch. Whatever was ailing him from before has passed, and he’s back to being the player he was in April/May when it looked like he had a chance of catching 60 homers. While that total seems unreachable, 50 homers feel plausible right now, and Alonso may even have a chance to set a personal/Mets record by the end of the season.
  2. The Mets bullpen has been under stress lately. The Megill/Peterson/Carrasco starts have required a lot of extra use of pitchers out of the bullpen recently. Quintana helped right the ship a bit last night, going six innings. Hartwig and Gott being able to hold the game after Smith meant that Ottavino and Raley could get the rest they needed for tonight. As of writing, the Mets haven’t named a corresponding move to bring in Lucchesi tonight. Dennis Santana was called up a few days ago, but he hasn’t been used yet. Sam Coonrod hasn’t played since throwing 28 pitches on Monday. I would venture a guess that if either player isn’t sent back down for Lucchesi, one of them is in line for multiple innings tonight.
  3. Brandon Nimmo. Nimmo has had five multi-hit games in his last six games played. Going back to August 5th, Nimmo has played in 12 games, going 16-for-44 with seven walks, slashing .364/.451/.568. His OPS over this 12-game stretch is similar to Alonso’s OPS over the last month. Despite how many times he’s been on base though, Nimmo has only scored four runs. He’s on a hot streak right now. Can the Mets take advantage of it?

Let’s go Mets!