Sunday, May 20, 2018• 1:10 p.m.
Citi Field • Flushing, N.Y.
RHP Clay Buchholz (0-0, —) vs. RHP Noah Syndergaard (3-1, 3.14)
PIX11 • WOR 710 AM • 104.3 WAXQ-FM HD 2 • ESPN 1050
Stop the Narrative: The Mets won two games in a row! For the first time in what feels like forever, the Mets have won back to back games, won the series and set themselves up to sweep the first place Diamondbacks today at Citi Field. Last night the Mets got a lackluster start for Matz (4 runs over 4.0 innings, but it felt like Matz was pitching better than that, to be honest) and the bullpen bailed the Mets out with 5.0 innings allowing only 2 hits and no walks. The Mets bullpen was great at the start of April and has been terrible of late, this was a welcomed change of pace. It allowed Mesoraco to hit a home run in the eighth to make the game 4-4 and Wilmer “Walk-Off” Flores ended it in the ninth with a sacrifice fly.
Mets Lineup
- Brandon Nimmo LF
- Jay Bruce RF
- Wilmer Flores 3B
- Michael Conforto CF
- Adrian Gonzalez 1B
- Luis Guillorme 2B
- Tomas Nido C
- Noah Syndergaard P
- Amed Rosario SS
Diamondbacks Lineup
- David Peralta LF
- Chris Owings RF
- Jake Lamb 3B
- Paul Goldschmidt 1B
- Daniel Descalso 2B
- Jarrod Dyson CF
- Nick Ahmed SS
- Jeff Mathis C
- Clay Buchholz P
Syndergaard looks to build off last night’s momentum and hammer in the win today. He is 3-1 over nine starts and 51.2 innings with a 3.14 ERA, 2.72 FIP, 1.219 WHIP and 122 ERA+. In his last start, he allowed two runs over five innings from two hits and two walks while striking out seven. In his last two starts, he has allowed four runs over 11.0 innings from 11 hits and six walks. The last time Noah faced the Diamondbacks was in back to back starts in 2016 where he allowed seven runs, five earned over 10.2 innings from 15 hits and three walks while striking out 14. Arizona has the following numbers against Noah:
- Goldschmidt 2-8, 2B, BB, 4 K
- Lamb 0-8, BB
- Owings 1-9, 2B, 5 K
- Descalso 3-6
- Mathis 0-5
- Peralta 1-4, 2B
- Ahmed 0-3
Clay Buchholz will make his 2018 major league debut today as he has not pitched in more than a year. The long time, and successful, Boston Red Sox pitcher was traded to Philly before the 2017 season, made a couple of starts, had season-ending surgery, signed with the Royals, was released by the Royals and recently signed with the Diamondbacks. In the minors this year he has tossed 27.2 innings over 5 games with a 2.93 ERA. Last year he allowed 10 runs from 16 hits in 7 1/3 innings including his 2017 debut which was against the Mets where the Mets scored four runs in five innings from eight hits and two walks. In his last full season with Boston, he went 8-10 over 37 games and 21 starts logging 139.1 innings with a 4.78 ERA, 5.06 FIP, 1.328 WHIP and 94 ERA+. The Mets have the following numbers against him:
- Reyes 9-34, 2B, 3B, 4 BB
- Cabrera 8-16, 2 2B, 2 HR, 3 BB
- Bruce 1-2
Game Notes
New York has six wins this season when trailing after the seventh inning, the most in the majors. The Yankees and Brewers are tied for second with four such wins. The Mets were 4-72 last year when trailing after seven innings.
With the Mets beating the Diamondbacks last night, it became their first series victory since April 27-29 at San Diego.
Over his last eight games, Michael Conforto is batting .355 (11-31) with one double, three homers, seven RBI and three runs scored. In his last five home games vs. Arizona, is 9-17 (.529) with two homers and seven RBI.
Conforto hit his first home run against a lefthander last night since August 5, 2017 (Rich Hill) and his seventh career homer off a lefthander overall (second off Patrick Corbin). Corbin is the only lefthanded pitcher Conforto has homered off of more than once.
Devin Mesoraco blasted a two-run game-tying homer in the eighth inning last night. New York has 15 homers in the eighth inning or later, the second-most in the majors, behind the Dodgers who have 16.
Wilmer Flores has the most walk-off RBIs in the majors since 2015.
Brandon Nimmo has a .443 on-base percentage, the third-highest in the majors (min. 50 at-bats). Nimmo is batting .280 (14-50) with 12 runs scored and 11 walks in 14 starts this season. He is tied for fifth in the majors with three triples.
Let’s Go Mets!
