Wendell Cruz-USA TODAY Sports

Saturday, June 17, 2023 • 4:10 PM
Citi Field • Flushing, New York
RHP Adam Wainwright (2-1, 5.79) vs. RHP Kodai Senga (6-3, 3.34)
WPIX

“OK, we won a game yesterday. If we win today, it’s called ‘two in a row’. And if we win again tomorrow, it’s called a ‘winning streak’. It’s has happened before”. – Lou Brown (James Gammon), Major League

The Mets had the type of game last night that has so alluded them in 2023. An easy, cruise control win. The Mets scored a bunch early. The starting pitching from Tylor Megill was great. The bullpen closed the door behind them. The game was never in doubt. This was the calling card of the 2022 Mets. Can the Mets do it again today?

Mets Lineup

Kodai Senga makes his 13th start of the season tonight. Over his first 12 games and 64 2/3 innings, he has a 3.34 ERA, 4.09 FIP, and 1.376 WHIP with a 124 ERA+. Senga had a fairly terrible start back on June 4th. He allowed four runs from four hits and five walks over 2 2/3 innings. He rebounded in his last start allowing only one unearned run over seven innings of work from two hits and four walks. It was the second time in his last three starts that he allowed 0 earned runs. Senga allowed five homers in his first four major league starts. Since then he’s allowed only two homers in seven starts. When he keeps the ball in the park, and walks down, he’s tremendous.

Opposing Lineup

The Cardinals send out their ageless wonder Adam Wainwright tonight. Over seven starts and 37 1/3 innings, he has a 5.79 ERA, 4.43 FIP, 1.714 WHIP, and a 75 ERA+. His WHIP shows a lot of his struggles sitting about 500 points higher than his career mark at 1.223 and about 450 points higher than last season. In his first four starts of the season, he allowed at least four runs in every start. Since then he’s allowed exactly three runs in each start, but hasn’t finished the sixth inning. He’s allowed at least eight hits in his last four starts. The Mets have the following career numbers against Wainwright:

Game Notes

Congrats, Lindor!

The Mets’ shortstop is out of the lineup due to the birth of his second child. According to Mike Puma of the New York Post,  Lindor wanted to play, but Buck Showalter gave him the night off. The Puerto Rican native went 0-for-3 last night in the Mets’ 6-1 win over the Cardinals.

Senga is set to make his seventh start at Citi Field today, where he is 3-1 with a 1.93 ERA, including a stellar  41 strikeout to 19 walk ratio. His 1.93 ERA is the ninth-best home ERA in the majors and the fourth-best mark in the National League (min. 25.0 IP).

Starling Marte is on a seven-game hitting streak, batting .367 (11-30) with six runs, two RBI, and two steals during that stretch. Over his last 33 games, Starling Marte is batting .305 with 18 runs, one double, one triple, two home runs, 11 RBI, three walks, and 10 steals with a .339 OBP. He has safely reached base in 14 of his last 16 games, putting his early season struggles to rest.

Three Things To Watch For

  1. Who’s ready in the bullpen? The Mets are playing down Drew Smith for ten days and his roster spot. Luckily last night Walker and Leone were able to get the job done, leaving everyone else in the bullpen without at least two calendar days of rest. The Mets need all of their starters to go deep into games for the next week to keep the pressure off the bullpen. For context, on Tuesday and Wednesday, the Mets used five different relievers each night.
  2. The DH going forward. Daniel Vogelbach returned to the lineup last night and hit his first home run since May 7th. There was a lot of criticism before the game (correct criticism in my opinion) that Vogelbach was starting as the DH instead of Álvarez. The Mets are still running into an issue where they are not giving Vientos the playing time he needs to get consistent ABs. Pham is a great example of a player for the Mets who has turned his season around after getting consistent at-bats. We’ll be paying attention to how the Mets play the DH spot for the rest of the weekend, especially with the late afternoon start and the early afternoon start tomorrow for the catchers on staff.
  3. More Jeff McHits: Jeff McNeil recorded his third two-hit game in his last seven last night. During his last seven games, Jeff is 8-for-29 with a double and a homer, hitting .276/.323/.414. This is essentially his season line. Right now Jeff McNeil is feast or famine, collecting hits in bunches or none at all. Does McNeil eat today against Wanwright’s WHIP?

Let’s go Mets!