MMO Game Thread: Rays vs Mets, 7:10 PM

Tuesday, September 22, 2020 • 7:10 p.m.
Citi Field • Flushing, NY
LHP Blake Snell (4-1, 3.05) vs. RHP Seth Lugo (2-3, 4.34)
SNY • WCBS 880 AM • WQBU 92.7 FM

Jacob deGrom gave the Mets everything he had last night but the Mets bats fell completely silent in a 2-1 loss. Now the Mets are three games out of a wild card spot with basically about a week left to play. The playoffs are still mathematically possible but things have to go perfectly.

And the Mets haven’t been playing that way.

Mets Lineup

Jeff McNeil – RF
J.D. Davis – DH
Dominic Smith – LF
Todd Frazier – 3B
Robinson Cano – 2B
Pete Alonso – 1B
Amed Rosario – SS
Guillermo Heredia – CF
Robinson Chirinos – C

Rays Lineup

Yoshi Tsutsugo – DH
Brandon Lowe – 2B
Randy Arozarena – LF
Nate Lowe – 1B
Joey Wendle – 3B
Willy Adames – SS
Kevin Kiermaier – CF
Brett Phillips – RF
Michael Perez – C

The Rays came out with a bullpen game last night and used six different pitchers to shut down Mets hitting, holding them to 1 run over 4 hits. Tonight’s pitcher – Snell – generally has gone around 5.0 innings each night. The Rays are built for this type of baseball. The Mets have been forced to play bullpen games for chunks of this season and it is fairly obvious they are not built for this type of baseball. The silver lining to losing last night – seeing how this strategy could actually work.

Anyway, Seth Lugo tries to bounce back tonight in Queens. On the season he has pitched in 14 games and made 5 starts with 29.0 innings pitched, posting a 4.34 ERA, 4.46 FIP, 1.310 WHIP and 99 ERA+. His last start basically crushed his season stats. Last time out he allowed 6 runs from 8 hits over 1.2 innings against the Phillies including 4 homers. Not good. Only a few Rays have seen Seth Lugo in action before:

Manuel Margot 5-6, 2B, K
Hunter Renfroe 1-5, HR, 2 K
Mike Zunino 0-2, 2 K

The Mets draw the former AL Cy Young Award winner tonight – Blake Snell. Snell has made 10 starts and pitched 44.1 innings this year with a 3.05 ERA, 4.10 FIP, 1.150 WHIP and 141 ERA+. He’s coming of his best back to back starts of the season, allowing 1 run and 7 hits over 10.2 innings of work, lowering his ERA from 3.74 to 3.05. The Mets have the following numbers against Snell: