Tuesday, August 15, 2023 • 7:10 PM
Citi Field • Flushing, New York
LHP Bailey Falter (0-7, 5.21) vs. LHP David Peterson (3-7, 5.61)
SNY

The Mets look to improve to 10 games below .500 tonight as they take on the Pirates for game two of their series.

The Mets’ offense was effective last night, scoring six runs on the highly touted prospect Quinn Priester who has a rough start to his major league career. Carlos Carrasco labored through three innings for the Mets which turned into a bullpen game of sorts with the Mets needing five pitchers from the pen to get through the game. Tyson Miller and Sam Coonrod both made their Mets debut and combined allowed a hit and three walks on their way to pitching three scoreless innings. All around, a pretty good night for New York.

Vincent Carchietta-USA TODAY Sports

Mets Lineup

David Peterson continues his return to the rotation tonight for the Mets.

On the season, he has pitched in 19 games with a 5.61 ERA, 4.44 FIP, 1.609 WHIP and a 75 ERA+. Since returning to the rotation he has allowed two runs from five hits over 6 2/3 innings spread across two starts. Most of those stats occurred in his last start against the Cubs where he allowed two runs from four hits and two walks over 3 2/3 innings. He was able to stretch his arm from 52 pitches to 62 as he continues to work on stamina after a lengthy time in the bullpen.

The only two members of the Pirates who have seen Peterson in a major league game are Andrew McCutchen (1-for-11, HR, 3 K, 3 BB) and Bryan Reynolds (0-for-1, K).

Opposing Lineup

The Mets bats will get a look Bailey Falter, who was acquired by the Pirates at the deadline this year for Rodolfo Castro.

Overall this year, Falter has pitched in 10 games (48 1/3 innings) with a 5.21 ERA, 5.00 FIP, 1.552 WHIP and an 84 ERA+. In his last two starts as a member of the Pirates, he’s allowed five runs over eight innings from 14 hits and three walks.

The Mets have the following career numbers against him:

Game Notes

Edwin Díaz was seen throwing on the Citi Field grass again this afternoon. It’s Díaz’s trumpet bobblehead night at Citi.

Before the game, the Mets recalled José Butto and sent pitcher Tyson Miller and outfielder Abraham Almonte to Triple-A Syracuse.

Daniel Murphy officially retired from baseball.

Three Things To Watch For

  1. What does Lindor do next? Francisco Lindor stole his 20th base of the season last night, marking the third time in his career that he’s had a 20-20 season. Lindor (116 OPS+, 4.3 WAR) is having a monster year for the Mets and can still easily reach several personal milestones by the end of the season. He’s only four doubles away from his first 30+ double season since 2019. He’s only five homers away from besting his total from last season.
  2. The Mets bullpen and David Peterson. The Mets have made a flurry of bullpen moves over the last couple of days thanks to their doubleheader on Saturday. Unless the Mets make an additional move before today’s game, every member of the bullpen has pitched over the last two games. David Peterson has had two short outings in a row. We’ll see what Buck does to remedy this tonight.
  3. Daniel Vogelbach. On Friday night, Vogelbach went 0-for-5 with four strikeouts. Since then he has gone 4-for-10 with two homers and four walks. Vogelbach is a streaky hitter, are we finally getting a Vogelbach hot streak in 2023?

Let’s go Mets!