A big day for the Mets as they look to end the first half of the season with a sweep of the Miami Marlins and put the Amazin’s in sole possession of third place for the first time since May 4.
Jacob deGrom (2-5, 3.38 ERA) will get the start and he’ll oppose left-hander Brad Hand (0-1, 5.09) for the Cubs in Sunday’s 1:10 PM series finale.
DeGrom fanned a career high-tying 11 batters in his last outing against the Atlanta Braves, giving the rookie two 11-strikeout games among his first 11 career starts. The feat has only been accomplished twice in franchise history by Nolan Ryan and Dwight Gooden.
Eric Campbell singled home the winning run on Saturday as a pinch-hitter in the eighth inning to extend his hitting streak to a season-best nine straight games. The nine-game hitting streak is the third-longest by a rookie this year and Campbell is hitting .455 (15-33) during his run. He is also hitting .500 (6-12) as a pinch-hitter for the Mets.
Led by Jenrry Mejia and Jeurys Familia, the Mets bullpen has tossed 8.1 scoreless innings over its last four games and is 3-0 with two saves during this homestand. The Mets bullpen ranks eighth in the majors with a 3.20 ERA, a huge turnaround from the 4.27 ERA which ranked 24th on May 6.
Chris Young hit a pinch-hit two-run homer in Saturday’s win and gets the start in left field with a lefty on the mound. That means Nieuwenhuis goes back to the bench. Daniel Murphy is getting a planned day off with Eric Campbell getting the start at second base.
Starting Lineup
- Curtis Granderson – RF
- Eric Campbell – 2B
- David Wright – 3B
- Lucas Duda – 1B
- Juan Lagares – CF
- Chris Young – LF
- Anthony Recker – C
- Ruben Tejada – SS
- Jacob deGrom – RHP
The Mets look to finish off the Marlins in a three game sweep today as they head into the All-Star break on a strong streak. Yesterday the Mets came back in the best way possible as optimism starts to swell again, even though the team is 6 games under .500. Jacob deGrom gets the start for the Mets today, on the season he is 2-5 over 11 games and 66.2 innings with an ERA of 3.38. In his last four starts he has pitched 25.2 innings with a 1.75 ERA including his last start, the best of his career, where he allowed 7.0 innings, 11 strikeouts, no runs and no walks. He has made one start against the Marlins his career where he pitched 7.0 innings, walking 3, allowing no runs and striking out 7. The Marlins have the following numbers against Jacob:
- Jones 0-3
- Lucas 2-3
- McGehee 1-2, 2B
- Ozuna 1-2
- Salty 0-3
Brad Hand is 0-1 over 18 games and 4 starts this year pitching 35.1 innings with a 5.09 ERA. He has made two starts in July logging 11.1 innings, 3 ER. He has logged a short amount of time against the Mets this year pitching in 3 games, 3.0 innings allowing 2 hits. Overall the Mets have the following numbers against Hand:
- Duda 3-9, 2B, HR
- Wright 1-8
- Tejada 0-5
- Murphy 1-6
- E Young 1-4, 2B
- Lagares 0-3
- d’Arnaud 0-2
- Granderson 0-2
Lets Go Mets!
