The Mets head to Washington to open a three-game series against the Nationals on Tuesday night at 7:05 PM. Zack Wheeler (6-8, 3.60) will lead things off for the Mets and will oppose left-hander Gio Gonzalez (6-7, 3.88) for the Nationals.
Wheeler is 3-0 with a 1.63 ERA in his past six starts and 1-4 with a 4.75 ERA in five career starts against the Nats. Wheeler has walked two batters or fewer in 12 of his last 14 starts, posting a 2.89 walks-per-nine in that time span. He walked two batters or fewer three times in his first eight starts of the season. Wheeler is surging.
After yesterday’s game the Mets recalled outfielder Kirk Nieuwenhuis from Las Vegas and designated outfielder Bobby Abreu for assignment. Nieuwenhuis will wear #9 and will be available for tonight’s game, He was hitting .265 (56-211) with 34 runs scored, 13 doubles, 11 home runs and 32 RBI in 57 games with the 51s.
The Mets pen took the loss yesterday. It was just their third loss over the last 31 games. New York’s pen had 18 losses in its in first 81 games. The pen has posted a 2.38 ERA in its last 22 games and ranks seventh overall this year in the majors with a 3.15 ERA.
Terry Collins must be reading Joe D’s posts. There’s Juan Lagares batting leadoff…
Starting Lineup
- Juan Lagares – CF
- Daniel Murphy – 2B
- David Wright – 3B
- Lucas Duda – 1B
- Eric Campbell – LF
- Travis d’Arnaud – C
- Chris Young – RF
- Ruben Tejada – SS
- Zack Wheeler – RHP
The Mets head to DC tonight after a disappointing end to their series with the Giants. The Mets radio booth said it best at the end of the game yesterday describing the game as “blah” from the Mets. Pretty accurate representation of what the game felt like. Today Zack Wheeler takes on Gio Gonzalez.
Wheeler on the season is 6-8 over 22 starts and 127.2 innings with a 3.60 ERA. In his last 6 games he has pitched 38.2 innings with a 3-0 record posting a 1.63 ERA allowing only 7 ER, 8 total, only 14 walks while striking out 34. He has had two starts against the Nationals this year, and they weren’t his best. His first was average as he allowed 3 ER over 6.0 innings, his second he allowed 5 ER over 6.0 innings. The Nationals have the following numbers against Wheeler:
- Span 7-15, 2 2B
- Werth 4-13, 2B, HR
- Desmond 4-14, 2B, HR
- LaRoche 1-10, HR
- Rendon 3-8
- Harper 1-8
- Ramos 2-9, 2B
Gio Gonzalez is 6-7 over 17 starts and 97.1 innings this year with a 3.88 ERA. He is coming off of a bad start in Philly where he allowed 5 ER over 3.2 innings allowing 8 hits, walking 1 and striking out 2. He has had two very different starts against the Mets this year. His first start of the season was against the Mets and he allowed only only earned run over 6.0 innings. In his second start against the Mets he allowed 5 ER over 3.0 innings. The Mets have the following numbers against Gio:
- Wright 5-16, 2B, 3B, HR
- Granderson 2-19, HR
- Abreu 1-16, 2B
- Murphy 4-12
- Lagares 4-11, 2B, 3B, HR
- Tejada 3-8
- E Young 0-10
- Duda 1-6
- Flores 0-7
