The New York Mets will try to pick up their second consecutive series win when they take on the Atlanta Braves on Thursday at 7:10 p.m. at Turner Field. Despite last night’s loss, the Mets have won three of their last five games
Jenrry Mejia will make his second start of the season for the Mets and will be opposed by David Hale for the Braves.
Mets Notes
This is Mejia’s eighth professional season, but he is still six months younger than Matt Harvey and only six months older than Zack Wheeler. Mejia and Dwight Gooden are the only men to pitch for the Mets since 1967 before turning 21 years old.
Mejia struck out a career-high eight batters in his first start of the year on April 4 vs. Cincinnati, his previous best was seven which he has done twice.
Mets starting pitchers have recorded a 3.62 ERA (20 earned runs/49.2 innings) ranking 14th in the majors while the bullpen has a 5.24 ERA (13 earned runs/22.1 innings) ranking 21st.
After allowing 14 runs (13 earned) in the first four games, the Mets bullpen has tossed 10.0 scoreless innings over its last four contests.
Gonzalez Germen has retired 16 of the last 17 batters he faced and has tossed 4.1 scoreless innings, stranding all three inherited runners.
Starting Lineup
- Eric Young, Jr. – LF
- Daniel Murphy – 2B
- David Wright – 3B
- Curtis Granderson – RF
- Ike Davis – 1B
- Juan Lagares – CF
- Travis d’Arnaud – C
- Ruben Tejada – SS
- Jenrry Mejia – RHP
Game Preview
The Mets are looking to take the series tonight against the Braves. In the series opener, the Mets won 4-0 thanks to a great outing from Colon. Last night, Wheeler was great for four innings, and then one inning that was a struggle. Ervin Santana on the other hand had a great Mets debut although the Mets were able to make it interesting against the Braves bullpen. Tonight, Mejia gets his second start of the season against David Hale, who also had a successful season debut.
Mejia is 1-0 after pitching 6 innings of four hit ball allowing one earned run and 5 walks while striking out 8 in his first start. He didn’t face the Braves in 2013 but in 2012 he pitched in two games, one start, where he allowed 5 ER over 7 innings while striking out 4. The Braves have the following numbers against Mejia:
- Freeman 1-4, 2B
- Heyward 1-4, 2B
- Uggla 1-4, HR, 2 K
- Simmons 1-2
David Hale is coming off of a strong start where he shutout his opponent over 5.0 innings allowing 5 hits and 4 strikeouts. Last year he started two games working 11.0 innings allowing only one earned run. None of his three starts were against the Mets or anyone on the Mets current roster, so the Mets do not have any current batting statistics against Hale. During Spring Training he allowed 13 ER over 17.2 innings of work while striking out 13 batters.
Lets Go Mets!
