Sunday, August 18, 2019 • 2:15 p.m. ET
Kauffman Stadium • Kansas City, MO
RHP Zack Wheeler (9-7, 4.36) vs. RHP Glenn Sparkman (3-8, 5.45)
SNY • WCBS 880 AM • ESPN 1050 AM
The Mets look to take the series on a Sunday rubber game against the Royals this afternoon. If they lose, they’ll lose two consecutive series on this road trip. If they win, they’ll win the series and improve to .500 for this six game road trip before returning home for a tough homestand against the Indians, Braves and Cubs.
Before we get into the pitchers today, how about Juan Lagares? Back on August 10 he was hitting .180/.254/.257 but he’s been on a little streak recently and is now hitting .218/.282/.303. To raise his stats that much in a short amount of time means he must really be hitting in his last five games. In his last five games, where he has played the entire game, he has 11 hits in 17 AB’s, or 11 of his 41 hits have come in the last five days. Tremendous. It’s a small sample size but things always feel good when Juan Lagares is doing well.
Mets Lineup
- Amed Rosario (R) SS
- Joe Panik (L) 2B
- Pete Alonso (R) 1B
- Michael Conforto (L) RF
- Wilson Ramos (R) DH
- Todd Frazier (R) 3B
- Juan Lagares (R) CF
- Aaron Altherr (R) LF
- Tomas Nido (R) C
Royals Lineup
- Whit Merrifield (R) 2B
- Nicky Lopez (L) SS
- Hunter Dozier (R) RF
- Jorge Soler (R) DH
- Ryan O’Hearn (L) 1B
- Cheslor Cuthbert (R) 3B
- Bubba Starling (R) LF
- Brett Phillips (L) CF
- Nick Dini (R) C
Zack Wheeler is 9-7 over 23 starts and 144.1 innings with a 4.36 ERA, 3.53 FIP, 1.275 WHIP and 95 ERA+. After back-to-back starts to start of August tossing 15.0 scoreless innings, things went off the rails in his last start and he allowed five runs over five innings from 12 hits and two walks. Because of the amount of turnover on the Royals roster, Alex Gordon is the only hitter on KC that he has seen in a major league game and Gordon is 1-for-3 with a double against him.
The Mets bats get Glenn Sparkman today, who is in his first full season as a major leaguer. He is 3-8 over 23 games and 15 starts tossing 99.0 innings with a 5.45 ERA, 5.77 FIP, 1.444 WHIP and 86 ERA+. As a starter he has pitched 81.1 innings with a 5.75 ERA and a 1.402 WHIP. His last six starts are interesting to look at together. On July 16 he tossed a complete game shut out against the White Sox, holding them to five hits and one walk. In his next four starts he allowed 23 runs, 22 earned over 19.2 innings. In his last start he allowed only two runs, one earned, over six innings. He has never faced anyone on the Mets roster before.
Notes
J.D. Davis leads the NL with a .375 batting average and is fourth with a .436 on-base percentage since the All-Star break. He ranks 11th with a .604 slugging percentage during that span. Amed Rosario ranks third in the NL with a .359 average since the break and leads the NL with 47 hits in that span.
Mets starters are 16-5 with a 2.76 ERA (61 earned runs/202.0 innings) in the second half. The team’s 2.76 mark is second in the majors. Only the Dodgers (2.67) have a lower mark in the second-half. The staff’s 16 wins are third in the majors and lead the National League. The staff has struck out 200 in that span, which ranks fifth in the majors and third in the NL.
Pete Alonso leads all rookies in homers (39), RBI (93), extra-base hits (65), total bases (263), runs (73), walks (58), multi-hit games (33), slugging (.594), hits (118) and OPS (.964) and is second in doubles (24) in OBP (.370). In addition, he is fourth in the majors in home runs (39), sixth in SLG (.594), tied for seventh in extra-base hits (65), eighth in OPS (.964) and eighth in RBI (93).
Let’s go Mets!
