Sunday, August 2, 2020 • 1:10 p.m.

Truist Park • Atlanta, GA

LHP David Peterson (1-0, 3.18) vs. RHP Kyle Wright (0-1, 16.88)

SNY • WCBS 880 AM • WQBU 92.7 FM

The Mets and Major League Baseball are living in two different emergencies right now. MLB has a real crisis on its hands with coronavirus breakouts on two teams. They never had a concrete, specific, and objective response plan for something that seemed inevitable in a global pandemic. Over the last couple of days, MLB has decided to blame athletes (their general response for everything) rather than taking the blame themselves for not preparing. It remains a mystery how much longer baseball can (and should) continue.

Meanwhile, the Mets are having a baseball emergency. They’ve now dropped four games in a row, which is like losing 11.2 games in a row in a normal season. The first two were games the Mets really should have come back to win, the third was a game the Mets should have never lost a lead in and last night was just terrible.

Mets Lineup

  1. Brandon Nimmo – CF
  2. Jeff McNeil – 3B
  3. Pete Alonso – 1B
  4. Michael Conforto – RF
  5. Robinson Canó – 2B
  6. J.D. Davis – DH
  7. Dominic Smith – LF
  8. Amed Rosario – SS
  9. Tomas Nido – C

Braves Lineup

  1. Ronald Acuña Jr. – CF
  2. Dansby Swanson – SS
  3. Freddie Freeman – 1B
  4. Marcell Ozuna – DH
  5. Travis d’Arnaud – C
  6. Johan Camargo – 3B
  7. Adam Duvall – RF
  8. Austin Riley – LF
  9. Adeiny Hechavarría – 2B

So it all falls to the rookie David Peterson, making his second career start, to stop the slide in the first early afternoon game the Mets have played all season. In his major league debut, Peterson allowed two runs off seven hits and two walks over 5.2 innings while striking out three at Fenway. Today will be his first time facing an NL East team and playing in an official major league game at a stadium with normal field proportions.

The Mets bats will get their first 2020 look at Kyle Wright who struggled against the Rays earlier in the week. He allowed five runs from four hits and three walks over 2.2 innings. Last year he pitched in seven games, four starts, allowing 19 runs over 19.2 innings for the Braves. This includes one start against the Mets where he allowed six runs over 3.2 innings off eight hits and four walks while striking out three. Wright had a 4.17 ERA over 21 starts and 112.1 innings in Triple-A Gwinnett during the 2019 season. The Mets have the following numbers against him:

  • Brandon Nimmo 2-2, HR
  • Michael Conforto 2-3, 2B, HR, BB
  • Dominic Smith 2-3, HR
  • Brian Dozier 1-1, BB
  • Jeff McNeil 2-3, 2B
  • Robinson Cano 1-3, 2B
  • Wilson Ramos 0-2, 2 BB, K
  • Amed Rosario 0-3, K

Game Notes

The Mets are 2-8 in their last 10 games at Atlanta. The pitching staff has a 8.01 ERA (73 earned runs/82.0 innings) during those 10 games. Despite that, the team owns a .317/.386/.469 slash line with 10 home runs in that span.

David Peterson is looking to become the fifth pitcher in Mets history who has started and won his first two major league games. Steven Matz was the last to do so in 2015. The others are Dick Selma (1965), Gary Gentry (1969) and Mike Pelfrey (2006).

Robinson Canó has reached base safely six straight games and is on a five-game hitting streak, batting .625 (10-16) with three runs, two doubles, a home run, two walks and four RBI in that span. He has recorded multiple hits in four of those five games.

Brandon Nimmo has safely reached base in all nine games this season. Nimmo has reached base safely in each of his last 24 games dating back to last season.

The Mets rank 29th in the majors with a 6.81 bullpen ERA after nine games. Last year, the Mets pen ranked 26th in the majors with a 4.99 ERA.

Let’s Go Mets!