Mandatory Credit: Brad Penner-USA TODAY Sports
The Mets have a chance at a series win today!
Last night the Mets got another excellent start by Taijuan Walker and Pete Alonso provided all of the offense as the Mets won 3-2 over the Cubs. It looked like for a moment in the third it was going to be one of those games where the Mets would squander a great start.
The Cubs went up 2-0 and the Mets bats were just not getting anything across the plate. Alonso smacked a two-run single and later in the game would hit a sac fly with the bases loaded.
The most memorable part of the game came in the ninth inning. Willie Harris, of Mets Fans’ nightmares, inexplicably sent Jake Marisnick as the tying run, trying to go from first to home on a single. He was nailed out at plate and the Mets were able to close the game behind him.
Mets Lineup
- Jonathan Villar – 3B
- Francisco Lindor – SS
- Dominic Smith – LF
- Pete Alonso – 1B
- Billy McKinney – RF
- Kevin Pillar – CF
- Luis Guillorme – 2B
- Tomas Nido – C
- Jacob deGrom – RHP
Cubs Lineup
- Joc Pederson – LF
- Anthony Rizzo – 1B
- Javier Baez – SS
- Ian Happ – CF
- Patrick Wisdom – 3B
- Rafael Ortega – RF
- Eric Sogard – 2B
- Jose Lobaton – C
- Robert Stock – RHP
The Mets will turn to deGrom today and we aren’t sure what more can be said about him. On the season he has pitched 64.0 innings over 10 games with a 0.56 ERA, 0.93 FIP, 0.531 WHIP and a 687 ERA+. He has 103 K’s on the year and has a career high in K/9 at 14.5 and K/BB at 12.88 (next closest is 5.85 back in 2018).
DeGrom left Mets fans nervous in his last game, departing early with right flexor tendonitis but apparently has passed all of his tests and is raring to go tonight. He missed the Cubs when the Mets were in Chicago earlier this year, and they have the following numbers against him:
- Kris Bryant 6-17, 2B, 2 HR, 2 BB, 7 K
- Jose Lobaton 4-7, K
- Anthony Rizzo 10-23, 2B, HR, 2 BB, 4 K
- Eric Sogard 0-3, 3 BB
- Jason Heyward 9-27, 2B, BB, 4 K
- Joc Pederson 5-20, 2B, 3 BB, 5 K
- Rafael Ortega 1-5, BB, 2 K
- Javier Baez 3-14, BB, 8 K
- Jake Marisnick 0-3, 2 K
The Mets batters will face Robert Stock tonight, returning to the majors for the first time this year. He’s definitely a publicly approachable player – a quick search of his name on Twitter shows the 31-year old interacting fans, thanking many of them who were congratulating him on his call up today.
Last year he pitched in 10 games and 13.1 innings for the Red Sox with a 4.73 ERA, 3.34 FIP, 1.950 WHIP and a 102 ERA+. In nine games, two starts, in Triple-A this year, he has tossed 19.2 innings with a 4.12 ERA and 1.068 WHIP.
He had to join the rotation last week because it was completely emptied out and in two starts he has allowed three earned runs over 8.0 innings from seven hits and no walks. Both times he went four innings, which is unusual for him. A couple of Mets have seen him in the majors before:
- Kevin Pillar 1-2, HR
- Jose Peraza 1-2
- Jonathan Villar 0-1
Game Notes
- Luis Rojas says that Jacob deGrom is not on any pitch or innings limit tonight, after exiting his last start with an injury. They will monitor him closely throughout the start, but there are no restrictions.
- Miguel Castro felt good in his side session before the game today and will be available out of the bullpen.
- Sean Reid-Foley could be in line to start one of the Mets games during their doubleheader on Saturday, but he will still remain available in the bullpen in the meantime if New York needs long relief.
- Michael Conforto is beginning a rehab assignment with the Syracuse Mets tonight and could return to the New York Mets as soon as next week.
