Tonight the Mets look to build on their series opening win against the Cubs as they send Jonathan Niese (6-8, 3.46) to the hill against Dan Straily (1-2, 4.93).
In his last start Niese earned his first win since returning from the disabled list in the Mets’ 5-3 victory over the Philies on August 11th at Citizens Bank Park. In that start he pitched 7.0 innings, allowing five hits and two earned runs and struck out six.
David Wright had his season-high 13-game hitting snapped last night. Wright is the only player in the majors this year with four separate hitting streaks of 11 or more games and the only player in team history with four such streaks in the same season is Keith Hernandez, who accomplished the feat in 1987.
Niese has posted a 2.89 ERA (17 earned runs/53.0 innings) in nine starts at Citi Field this season. The Mets are 5-2 in Niese’s last seven home starts.
Starting Lineup
- Granderson, rf
- Murphy, 2b
- Wright, 3b
- Duda, 1b
- D’Arnaud, c
- Den Dekker, lf
- Lagares, cf
- Flores, ss
- Niese, lhp
The Mets were able to get the win last night behind the arm of Wheeler and the bat of Campbell, and they try to do it again tonight behind Jon Niese who is 6-8 on the season over 22 starts and 135.1 innings of work with a 3.46 ERA. His last start was his first strong start in a while as he allowed 2 ER over 5 hits in 7.0 innings against the Phillies. He missed the Cubs earlier this year and faced them once last year allowing 2 ER over 5.2 innings while striking out 5 and walking 4. The Cubs have the following numbers against Niese:
- Castro 5-16
- Ruggiano 2-14
- Coghland 2-10, 2B
- Rizzo 1-9, 2B
- Valbuena 2-6, 2B
The Mets bats will get to see Dan Straily make his Cubs debut. He was traded over from the Athletics early in July and did make 7 starts for Oakland this year with a 1-2 record over 38.1 innings and a 4.93 ERA. Last year he posted a 3.96 ERA and a 10-8 record over 27 games and 152.1 innings. He has also made 7 starts in the Cubs system this year with a 3.00 ERA over 39.0 innings. Dan has never faced the Mets or anyone on the Mets roster in a major league game.
Lets Go Mets!
