Photo by Ed Delany of Metsmerized

Monday, May 1, 2023 • 1:10 PM
Citi Field • Flushing, New York
RHP Spencer Strider (3-0, 1.80) vs. RHP Denyi Reyes (0-0, 0.00)
SNY

The Mets and Braves hope to get two games in today after an incredibly rainy weekend in the New York City area. After two days in a row of quite literally the same pitching matchup, the Mets made some roster changes last night and made the curious decision to not start Kodai Senga today. Instead, Denyi Reyes will get the start for the first game and Tylor Megill will start later this afternoon.

In case you need a reminder – the last time we saw the Mets was after the fifth inning on Friday night. The Mets and Braves were scoreless for the first four innings on Friday, with the rain steadily increasing throughout the game. The Braves were able to score four runs in the fifth inning, and the Mets couldn’t tie the game in the bottom of the fifth before the rain delay. At that point the game was official and a few hours later the rain delay turned into a rain shortened victory for the Braves.

Mets Lineup

Denyi Reyes will make his first start of the season for the Mets today. So far in five games and 6 1/3 innings, Reyes has allowed no runs from three hits and two walks while striking out seven. Each time the Mets used him he tossed more and more pitches, from three pitches in his first game to 33 in his last. He’s only pitched in one game for Syracuse since being sent down and that was a week ago where he pitched 1 2/3 innings allowing two runs from three hits. No one for Atlanta has seen Denyi in a major league game before.

Opposing Lineup

The Mets bats have a tall order this afternoon against Spencer Strider. Strider is off to a tremendous start this season, pitching 30 innings over his first five games with a 1.80 ERA, 1.72 FIP (league leading), 0.833 WHIP and a 244 ERA+. He is also leading the league in hits per nine inning at a paltry 4.2 and strikeouts per nine inning at 14.7. Strider had two rough starts earlier in April where he allowed six runs over 10 innings. Since then he has allowed no runs and only three hits in two games and 14 innings. The Mets were able to get to Strider last year scoring six runs from 14 hits over 12 1/3 innings:

  • Brandon Nimmo 4-9, HR, BB
  • Francisco Lindor 4-9, 3B, K
  • Pete Alonso 1-6, 2B, 2 BB, 5 K
  • Mark Canha 2-6, 2B, BB, 2 K
  • Daniel Vogelbach 0-6, BB, 3 K
  • Jeff McNeil 2-5, 2B
  • Eduardo Escobar 1-3, 2B, BB
  • Starling Marte 0-3, BB, 2 K
  • Tommy Pham 0-4, 3 K
  • Luis Guillorme 1-3, 2 K

Game Notes


Three Things To Watch For

  1. Which Spencer Strider shows up this afternoon? Spencer Strider looked like the best pitcher in baseball after his eight inning, shutout performance the other night. He is also only two starts removed from two average starts. The Mets have both hit Strider well and completely fell apart against him last year. Which Strider do the Mets see this afternoon?
  2. Another day, another reason to talk about Brett Baty. On Thursday night Brett Baty got on base four times and hit a homer. Last night he went 1-for-2, collecting one of the three hits the Mets had yesterday. His single, which bounced off the grass in the infield before going into the outfield was hit off the bat at 110.2 mph. He’s already in the 72nd percentile for max exit velocity according to Baseball Savant.
  3. A well-rested bullpen heading into a bullpen game. In an ideal world the Mets get four to five innings out of Denyi Reyes this afternoon. Just looking at his previous games though, I think its more likely we see him on the three to four inning side. The Mets bullpen, which hasn’t been used since Thursday, is incredibly rested heading into the doubleheader with the Braves today. Further, the Mets still have to make two more roster moves this week to bring back Scherzer and Verlander. Someone, possibly two pitchers, are going to get used to their maximum potential today and then get sent down afterwards.

Let’s go Mets!