Wednesday, July 29, 2020 • 7:10 p.m.
Citi Field • Flushing, NY
RHP Nathan Evoldi (1-0, 1.50 ERA) vs. RHP Jacob deGrom (0-0, 0.00 ERA)
SNY • WCBS 880 AM • WQBU 92.7 FM
The Mets head down the eastern seaboard back home tonight, where they will continue to play against the Boston Red Sox. Last night the Mets powered their way through the Red Sox pitching behind J.D. Davis’ first homer of the season, the shortest in the league at 328 feet off Pesky’s Pole!
Anyway the real story from last night was David Peterson who looked good making his major league debut in one of the more chaotic days in baseball due to the spread of the Coronavirus with the Marlins and baseball’s less than adequately planned response. The bullpen behind Peterson was able to hold the game together and I imagine the bus trip from Boston felt very different than the bus trip to Boston.
It’s Jacob deGrom day!
The Mets ace was as advertised in his first start of the season on Opening Day, holding the Braves to just one hit over five innings while striking out eight. His average pitch velocity in the first inning was 99.2 mph. Opening Day was also a very typical deGrom start in another way – the Mets gave him zero support. Jacob last faced the Red Sox in September of 2018 allowing three runs over seven innings, while striking out 12.
Mets Lineup
- Brandon Nimmo – CF
- Jeff McNeil – 3B
- Pete Alonso – 1B
- Michael Conforto – RF
- Dominic Smith – LF
- Yoenis Cespedes DH
- Robinson Cano – 2B
- Andres Gimenez – SS
- Rene Rivera – C
Red Sox Lineup
- Andrew Benintendi – LF
- JD Martinez – DH
- Rafael Devers – 3B
- Mitch Moreland – 1B
- Christian Vazquez – C
- Alex Verdugo – RF
- Jose Peraza – 2B
- Jackie Bradley Jr. – CF
- Tzu-Wei Lin – SS
For the first time in this home-away split four-game series, the Mets will face a true starting pitcher in Nathan Eovaldi, and it feels like the Mets are facing an old friend. Eovaldi has pitched in 180 games and made 161 starts since 2011. Ten of those starts were against the Mets.
Over the course his career, Eovaldi has played for the Dodgers, Marlins, Yankees, Rays and now the Red Sox. After tonight he will have made a start against the Mets in each of those uniforms. His last start against the Mets came in 2018 where he allowed one hit and no runs while striking out nine over seven innings pitched as a member of the Rays.
Last season in 12 starts (23 games) he pitched 67 2/3 innings with a 5.99 ERA, 5.90 FIP, 1.581 WHIP and 81 ERA+, by far his worst season of baseball (his career ERA is 4.28). Eovaldi was the Opening Day pitcher for the Red Sox and allowed one run over six innings against the Orioles. He will look to be the stopper for Boston, as they have lost each of the four games since he last pitched.
Game Notes
Andres Gimenez will make the first big league start of his career tonight, as the 21-year-old will open the game at shortstop to give Amed Rosario a rest.
In our ranking of the Mets top 30 prospects, Gimenez came in at No. 2 prior to the season. He also found himself in MLB.com’s top 100 prospect list at No. 84.
Gimenez has appeared in every game so far this season, mostly coming in for Cano as a defensive replacement late in games.
Still searching for that elusive first hit, Gimenez is 0-for-4, although he did score his first run last night after coming into the game as a pinch runner. We will see if Gimenez collects that signature hit in tonight’s ball game against Eovaldi and the Red Sox.
Let’s Go Mets!
