Brad Mills-USA TODAY Sports

Monday, May 2, 2023 • 6:40 PM
Comerica Park • Detroit, Michigan
LHP Joey Lucchesi (1-0, 2.19) vs. RHP Michael Lorenzen (0-1, 7.07)
SNY

The Mets look to build some momentum this week as they swing into Detroit for a three-game set. Yesterday the Mets finally got to play baseball, splitting a doubleheader with the Braves. The Mets battled back multiple times in the first game but still fell short 9-8. In the second game, they went up early, lost the lead, but rallied back and beat the Braves 5-3.

Detroit is where the Mets are going to reset their starting rotation. Due to the rainouts this weekend, Max Scherzer is finally eligible to return, however the Mets are slotting him into tomorrow’s spot. Justin Verlander is good to go after a rehab start and will make his Mets debut on Thursday. Kodai Senga is getting extra rest and will start after Verlander, which leaves Joey Lucchesi for tonight’s game!

Mets Lineup

In two games this season, Joey Lucchesi has pitched 12 1/3 innings allowing three runs from nine hits and four walks while striking out 12 batters. After allowing no runs in his first start of the season, Joey struggled a bit against the Washington Nationals last week, allowing three runs over 5 1/3 innings. There are only two batters in the Tigers lineup who have seen Lucchesi before. Former Met Javier Báez is 5-for-7 with two doubles and two homers. Austin Meadows is the other batter, but he just got transferred to the 60-day injured list.

Opposing Lineup

The Mets bats look to stay hot against Michael Lorenzen today.

Lorenzen has made three starts and pitched 14 innings with a 7.07 ERA, 5.31 FIP, 1.643 WHIP and a 62 ERA+. Two of his starts have been terrible (six runs over four innings, five runs over five innings). Sandwiched between those starts were five shutout innings against the Orioles where he scattered three hits. The Mets have the following numbers against Lorenzen:

Game Notes

This is the Mets’ first series in Comerica Park since August 5-7, 2016. The winning battery on August 5 for the Tigers? Justin Verlander and James McCann. Justin Wilson and Francisco Rodriguez pitched in multiple games in that series.

Max Scherzer returned from suspension today. The team didn’t have to make a roster move because Scherzer wasn’t moved off the 26-man roster. The team couldn’t replace him. Scherzer is set to start Wednesday against the Tigers, his former team.

Brett Baty has reached base safely in nine straight games.

Three Things To Watch For

  1. Another day, another comment about Brett Baty. Brett Baty is fully in a groove now. He is now hitting .333/.381/.538 on the season and in his last seven games he’s hitting .409/.458/.773. He had five batted balls yesterday across two games that were over 100 mph, bringing him to double digits for the season. We’ve been talking about how the Mets needed another player to step up in the offense. Yesterday that player was Brett Baty.
  2. Four Homers in one day? The Mets have been desperate for the big hit and yesterday they got a handful. Pete Alonso, Brett Baty, Eduardo Escobar and Jeff McNeil all homered. Comerica Park is notoriously a pitcher’s ballpark but the Tigers made some changes before this season. The fence was moved in 10-feet in center. The wall from center to right was lowered. Can the Mets ride this power wave, even into a (slightly less) pitcher’s friendly park?
  3. Can the Mets take advantage of the Tigers recent struggles? From April 13 to April 18, the Tigers went on a five-game winning streak. This brought them to only two games below .500. Since then the Tigers are 3-8. This is the time for the Mets to get on a bit of a run.

Let’s go Mets!