Monday, September 5, 2016 • 1:10 p.m.
Great American Ball Park • Cincinnati, OH
RHP Bartolo Colon (12-7, 3.35) vs. RHP Robert Stephenson (2-0, 3.00)
SNY • WOR 710 AM • ESPN 1050 AM
Wake up everybody! The Mets are coming off of a strong series where they took two of three from the Nationals as they keep their Wild Card push alive. Now the Mets are charged with a steep task of going from a late night game in Queens (8 PM start) to a 1 PM start in Ohio, but alas the Mets will rise to the occasion behind Bartolo Colon.
Jay Bruce returns Cincinnati where he played from 2008 until he was acquired by the Mets on August 1. He has hit more home runs (135) at Great American Ball Park than anyone else in the park’s history and ranks second in RBI (382). Bruce is 8-for-his-last-19 (.421) with two home runs and four RBI over his last five games.
Yoenis Cespedes, Asdrubal Cabrera and Jose Reyes all off today, and apparently Jeurys Familia and Addison Reed will not be available to pitch . Word is that Fernando Salas could close.
Mets Lineup
- Alejandro De Aza – CF
- Michael Conforto – LF
- Wilmer Flores – 2B
- Jay Bruce – RF
- Kelly Johnson – 3B
- Travis d’Arnaud – C
- James Loney – 1B
- Matt Reynolds – SS
- Bartolo Colon – RHP
Reds Lineup
- Jose Peraza – CF
- Zack Cozart – SS
- Joey Votto – 1B
- Adam Duvall – LF
- Brandon Phillips – 2B
- Scott Schebler – RF
- Eugenio Suarez – 3B
- Tucker Barnhart – C
- Robert Stephenson – RHP
Bartolo is 12-7 over 28 games and 27 starts with a 3.35 ERA in 158.2 innings of work. He’s coming off of a strong start against the Marlins where he allowed 2 runs, 1 earned, over 7.0 innings and in his last 6 starts, in only one he has allowed more than 2 ER. Way back in April he allowed 3 ER over 5.0 innings with 8 hits. The Reds have the following numbers against Colon:
- Phillips 2-15
- Hamilton 2-6
- Cozart 2-4
- Votto 2-3
- Holt 2-2
- Barnhart 2-2, 2B
- De Jesus 1-2, HR
The Mets bats will get a crack at Robert Stephenson who will be making his third major league start. He’s 2-0 so far over 12.0 innings allowing 5 runs, 4 earned and 9 hits. That’s a bit misleading though because his two starts were quite different, his first one he allowed 4 runs over 5.0 innings, then 1 run over 7.0 innings. Also these starts were back in early and mid-April, separated by 12 days. In the minors this year he has pitched 24 starts and 136.2 innings with an 8-9 record and a 4.41 ERA. He has not faced the Mets yet in his career or anyone on the Mets roster.
Let’s Go Mets!
