Pete Alonso. Troy Taormina-USA TODAY Sports

Saturday, April 22, 2023 • 4:05 PM
Oracle Park • San Francisco, California
LHP David Peterson (1-2, 6.10) vs. LHP Logan Webb (0-4, 4.94)
FOX

The New York Mets go for their fifth series win in a row on Saturday as they attempt to extend their winning streak to four games.

Friday night proved to be an excellent night all around for New York. Joey Lucchesi returned to Major League Baseball for the first time in nearly two years and had one of the best starts of his career (and arguably the best start by any Met this season), holding the Giants scoreless over seven innings while striking out nine batters. Pete Alonso continued his current tear with his major league leading 10th homer of the season.

David Peterson gets what is an important start for the Mets on Saturday. With Max Scherzer suspended, and Justin Verlander still about two weeks away, the Mets need Peterson to show that same brilliance he has at various points in his career.

Mets Lineup

On the season, David Peterson has made four starts, pitching 20 2/3 innings with a 6.10 ERA, 5.52 FIP, 1.645 WHIP and a 68 ERA+. This season Peterson has been alternating between good starts and not-so-good starts.

His last time out he allowed six runs and three homers over six innings against the Dodgers. Before that, he kept the Padres to only two runs over 5 2/3 innings.

Peterson made a solid start in San Francisco last year, holding the Giants to two runs from three hits (one home run) in six innings of work while striking out six. The Giants have the following career numbers against him:

Giants Lineup

Wins and losses as a statistic are imperfect, and because they are imperfect they can tell you something about luck. Logan Webb has been fairly unlucky on top of not being his normal self this season.

He’s 0-4 in four starts over 23 2/3 innings with a 4.94 ERA, 4.23 FIP, 1.225 WHIP and an 89 ERA+. In all four starts he has allowed four runs, and in three of those starts the four runs have been earned.

Webb had two different starts against the Mets last season. In New York, he allowed three runs from three walks and six hits over 3 2/3 innings. In San Francisco, he lasted five innings, allowing two runs from from five hits and a walk. The Mets have the following numbers against Webb:

Game Notes

Per Will Sammon of the Athletic, here are some Mets’ injury updates:

  • Verlander: remains on track to throw a live tomorrow.
  • Carrasco: He’s 2-3 days from throwing, per Buck Showalter. They won’t know more until he starts throwing.
  • Ridings: “Two steps forward, one step back with him,” Showalter said. “Mostly forward now. He will be a nice guy to get in mix.” Backed off, but close to where he was at end of ST.
  • Nogosek: Started a rehab assignment today with Triple-A Syracuse. He threw 1 1/3 innings allowing two hits and one run.

The Mets have now won three consecutive games and eight of their last nine contests. They are 7-1 on the west coast road trip and are a season-high seven games above .500. If the Mets are able to win Saturday’s game, then they would claim their fifth straight series and their seventh series overall.

New York’s 14 wins are tied for the second-most in the majors and tied with the Braves and the Pirates for the most in the National League.

With a win on Saturday or Sunday, the Mets would match their highest win total on a California road trip in franchise history. Wins in both games would help to set a new franchise record. Their previous best trip in Cali was an 8-1 run against LA, San Francisco and the Padres in 1986.

Pete Alonso became the first player in Mets history to hit 10 home runs before May 1 after hitting a dinger against the Giants on Friday. He also became the fourth player in franchise history to have consecutive games with four or more RBI and the first since Lucas Duda in 2015.

Tylor Megill will get the start for the Mets on Sunday in the final game of the road trip. They will then have an off day on Monday before returning home to face the Nationals at Citi Field on Tuesday.

Three Things To Watch For

  1. Logan Webb and home runs: Logan Webb’s major weakness this year has been the long ball. He’s allowed five of them through four starts this season. That’s an early season 1.9 HR/9 inning rate, compared to his career stat of 0.7 HR/9. The Mets on this away trip have been home run happy (mainly Pete Alonso). Can the Mets exploit this on Saturday?
  2. David Peterson and home runs: Peterson is going through something similar. He’s giving up home runs at a rate of 2.2 HR/9 where he is normally at 1.2 HR/9. The difference is three of the five homers that Peterson gave up all happened in the same game where Webb has allowed two homers in the same start twice already. Peterson’s H/9 is also way up this season to 11.3, his previous career high was 8.6 H/9.
  3. A rested back of the bullpen: Thanks to the Mets’ bats New York has been able to give David Robertson and Adam Ottavino the last two days off. Brooks Raley has been a big part of this pitching on back to back days, and only throwing 20 pitches in the process.