Saturday, May 27, 2017 • 7:15 p.m.
PNC Park • Pittsburgh, PA
RHP Zack Wheeler (3-2, 3.74) vs. RHP Gerrit Cole (2-5, 3.36)
FOX • WOR 710 AM • 104.3 WAXQ-FM HD 2 • ESPN 1050 AM

For maybe the first time all season, the Mets had a game last night like they drew it up in Spring Training. The Mets offense was on overdrive behind Neil Walker who continued his May turn up month knocking in two homers and recording 4 RBI’s and Duda smacked two doubles. On the mound deGrom was dominant  over 8.1 innings allowing only 6 hit sand a walk while striking out 10. Hopefully the Mets can do it again tonight as they try to get their season rolling.

Mets Lineup

  1. Michael Conforto – LF
  2. Jose Reyes – 3B
  3. Jay Bruce – RF
  4. Neil Walker – 2B
  5. Lucas Duda – 1B
  6. Asdrubal Cabrera – SS
  7. Curtis Granderson – CF
  8. Travis d’Arnaud – C
  9. Zack Wheeler – RHP

Pirates Lineup

  1. Adam Frazier – LF
  2. Josh Harrison – 2B
  3. Josh Bell – 1B
  4. Gregory Polanco – RF
  5. David Freese – 3B
  6. Andrew McCutchen – CF
  7. Francisco Cervelli – C
  8. Jordy Mercer – SS
  9. Gerrit Cole – RHP

Wheeler is 3-2 over 8 starts and 43.1 innings posting a 3.74 ERA, 4.20 FIP and a 1.292 WHIP. In his last four official starts (remember there was a non-start in this time too that was good, but rained out), Wheeler is 2-0 over 21.2 innings with 19 K’s and a 2.08 ERA. He has never faced the Pirates before and the only Pirate who has seen him in a major league game is Jaso who is 2-4 with a double and a walk.

The Mets bats draw Gerrit Cole who is 2-5 over 10 starts and 61.2 innings with at 3.36 ERA, 3.91 FIP, and 1.119 WHIP. By ERA standards he is off to a normal season and his WHIP has returned to his career number after it was way above normal last year. His FIP though is nearly a full run higher than his career average. He is coming off of his worst start since Opening Day where he allowed 5 runs and 10 hits over 4.2 innings. The last time he faced the Mets was in 2015 where he recorded a win over 8.1 innings where he allowed 6 hits and 1 walk while striking out 10 (coincidentally – Cole’s pitching line for this game is nearly identical to deGrom’s line from last night). The Mets have the following numbers against Cole:

  • Bruce 5-17, 2 2B, 2 BB
  • Granderson 1-6, BB
  • Duda 1-6
  • R Rivera 0-4, BB
  • Flores 1-3
  • Lagares 1-3
  • Reyes 1-3

Notes –

Zack Wheeler allowed one earned run in three of his last four starts. Wheeler has a 2.12 ERA (four earned runs/17.0 innings) in May and a 2.67 ERA (10 earned runs/33.2 innings) with 32 strikeouts since April 18.

Lucas Duda is 7-14 (.500) with three doubles, one home runs, seven RBI and four runs scored over his last four games.

The Mets have hit at least one home run in 18 of their 20 road games, including seven straight games.

Let’s Go Mets!