Tuesday, July 31, 2018 • 7:05 p.m.
Nationals Park • Washington, D.C.
LHP Steven MatZ (5-8, 3.79) vs. RHP Tanner Roark (4-12, 4.55)
SNY • WOR 710 AM • 104.3 WAXQ-FM HD 2 • ESPN 1050
The Mets come off a 1-0 win against the Pirates on Sunday where Wheeler did it all and head into DC where the season is slipping away from the Nationals. The Mets could be having a busy day pretty much right up to game time with the trade deadline or the Mets team could remain mostly intact. Here’s hoping something doesn’t happen that invalidates this preview between when I wrote it and first pitch!
Mets Lineup
- Amed Rosario – SS
- Brandon Nimmo – RF
- Wilmer Flores – 1B
- Michael Conforto – LF
- Jose Bautista – 3B
- Jeff McNeil – 2B
- Austin Jackson – CF
- Kevin Plawecki – C
- Steven Matz – LHP
Nationals Lineup
- Trea Turner – SS
- Anthony Rendon – 3B
- Bryce Harper – RF
- Ryan Zimmerman – 1B
- Juan Soto – LF
- Daniel Murphy – 2B
- Michael Taylor – CF
- Matt Wieters – C
- Tanner Roark – RHP
Steven Matz is 5-8 over 20 games and 107 innings with a 3.79 ERA, 4.76 FIP, 1.262 WHIP and 100 ERA+. He’s coming off back to back rough starts where he allowed 9 runs over 11.0 innings from 12 hits and 3 walks. Before that, he faced the Nationals where he allowed three runs over 6.1 innings from eight hits and two walks. The Nationals have the following numbers against Matz:
- Taylor 4-17, HR, 2 BB, 7 K
- Harper 2-15, 2 BB
- Rendon 5-17, 3 HR, 8 K
- Turner 2-16, 2B, BB
- Zimmerman 1-13, HR
- Murphy 4-11, 2B, HR, BB
- Mark Reynolds 4-11, 3 2B
The Mets bats will get a look at Tanner Roark who is 4-12 (league-leading in losses) from 21 games, 20 starts in 122.2 innings with a 4.55 ERA, 4.27 FIP, 1.337 WHIP, and a 93 ERA+. He is coming off one his best starts of the season where he allowed no runs over eight innings before that posted an 8.31 ERA over six games and 30.1 innings. One of those starts was against the Mets where he allowed four runs from eight hits and two walks in five innings. The Mets have the following numbers against Roark:
- Conforto 4-17, 2 2B, HR, 4 BB
- Flores 3-15, 2B
- Reyes 3-12, 2 BB
- Mesoraco 1-8
- Nimmo 4-6, HR
- Rosario 1-7, 3B
- Jackson 3-4
Game Notes
New York has a .748 OPS on the road this year, the seventh-highest mark in the majors. The Mets are fifth in the NL
with a .416 slugging percentage and fifth with a .332 OBP on the road.
The Mets are 2-2 on their six-game road trip and 23-26 on the road this year. New York is 10-18 in its last 28 road
games and 5-4 in its last nine.
Brandon Nimmo has a .450 on-base percentage in the second half, the seventh-highest mark in the NL. He has
walked five times in the last four games. Nimmo has a career-high 13 homers, but has one home run in his last 33 games. Overall, he is 11th in the NL with a .382 on-base percentage, 18th with a .858 OPS and tied for fifth in the majors with six triples.
Steven Matz will make his 11th road start of the season. Matz is 4-3 with a 3.35 ERA (19 earned runs/51.0 innings) on the road this year. His 3.35 ERA is the 12th-lowest in the NL (min. 50 innings). Matz has allowed one run or less in six of his 10 road starts.
The Mets have won six games vs. Washington this year with nine games remaining. New York won six games all of last year vs. the Nats and seven games in 2016. The Mets are 16-14 at Nationals Park since 2015, including a three-game sweep, April 5-8, earlier this year. The Mets have hit 37 home runs in their last 24 games at Nationals Park.
Let’s Go Mets!
