Ed Delany, MetsmerizedOnline.com

Monday, May 7, 2018 • 7:10 p.m.
Great American Ball Park • Cincinnati, OH
LHP P.J. Conlon (ML debut) vs. RHP Homer Bailey (0-4, 4.81)
SNY• WOR 710 AM • 104.3 WAXQ-FM HD 2 • ESPN 1050

Maybe the Mets just need a change of scenery right now. For the second game in a row the Mets got a great start from their starting pitcher but could not translate it into a win due to a cold offense. Yesterday the Mets went up 2-0 quick and a few innings later it became 2-2 which it stayed for the majority of the game until the Rockies were able to pull away late and sweep the Mets. Now the Mets will travel to the Reds and hopefully find themselves back in the win column.

Mets Lineup

  1. Michael Conforto – CF
  2. Yoenis Cespedes – LF
  3. Jay Bruce – RF
  4. Asdrubal Cabrera – 2B
  5. Todd Frazier – 3B
  6. Adrian Gonzalez – 1B
  7. Jose Lobaton – C
  8. P.J. Conlon – P
  9. Amed Rosario – SS

Reds Lineup

  1. Jesse Winker – RF
  2. Jose Peraza – SS
  3. Joey Votto – 1B
  4. Eugenio Suarez – 3B
  5. Scooter Gennett – 2B
  6. Adam Duvall – LF
  7. Tucker Barnhart – C
  8. Homer Bailey – P
  9. Billy Hamilton – CF

Originally Jacob deGrom was supposed to make his scheduled start tonight but the Mets announced yesterday that deGrom was going to the DL to rest up his hyperextended elbow. P.J. Conlon, their prospect out of Ireland, will make his Major League debut. Conlon is the first player from the Columbia Fireflies organization to make his Major League debut and he had a Non-Roster invite to Mets camp in 2017 and 2018. In Vegas this year he has a 6.75 ERA over five games and 24.0 innings. The year before in Binghamton he had a 3.38 ERA in 28 games, 22 starts and 136.0 innings. At 213 Miles From Shea we have a deeper preview of him here from this past winter.

The Mets bats will try to find something positive to work with from Homer Bailey who is 0-4 over seven games and 39.1 innings with a 4.81 ERA, 5.68 FIP, 1.246 WHIP and 83 ERA+. In his last three starts he has allowed 12 runs off 20 hits and four walks in 15.2 innings with a 6.89 ERA. He faced the Mets twice last year; The first time he was effective allowing only two runs off four hits and a walk in 6.0 innings, losing the game 2-0. The next time he allowed five runs over 6.0 innings off six hits and three walks. The Mets have the following numbers against him:

  • Gonzalez 11-25, 2 2B, 6 HR, BB
  • Cabera 5-15, 2B, 2 BB
  • Reyes 2-10, 2B
  • Cespedes 1-6
  • Nimmo 1-5
  • Plawecki 2-6, 2B, HR
  • Lagares 0-5
  • Flores 1-3, 2B
  • Frazier 1-2

Game Notes

Yoenis Cespedes returns to the game after leaving the Mets Sunday loss with a sore right qaud.

Conlon will become the first native of Belfast to play in the majors since Henry “Irish” McIlveen who played from 1906, 1908-1909 with Pittsburgh and the New York Highlanders. There have been 45 previous players born in Ireland or Northern Ireland to play in the majors, the last was Joe Cleary of the Washington Senators in 1945.

The Mets are 18-3 in their last 21 games vs. Cincinnati dating to September 7, 2014. New York has outscored the Reds, 112-68 during that span…The Mets won a franchise record 14 straight games from September 7, 2014-September 7, 2016.

Lets Go Mets!