Mandatory Credit: Brad Penner-USA TODAY Sports
Wednesday, May 26, 2021 • 7:10 P.M.
Citi Field • Flushing, NY
RHP German Marquez (3-4, 4.82) vs. RHP Marcus Stroman (3-4, 2.75 ERA)
SNY • WCBS 880 AM • WQBU 92.7 FM
Last night, Jacob deGrom returned to the Citi Field mound and played his role as the Mets stopper, helping his team earn a victory for the first time in four games. Now Marcus Stroman will take the ball and try to keep New York out of the loss column once again.
Even with the victory, the Mets couldn’t avoid the continuous cycle of bad news on Tuesday.
Johneshwy Fargas is week-to-week with his shoulder injury, while J.D. Davis endured yet another setback to his hand injury which will only extend his rehab stint. Noah Syndergaard even hit a speed-bump of his own in his return from Tommy John surgery, exiting his rehab start after just one inning pinched.
To try to combat those losses, New York made a trade last night to acquire Billy McKinney from the Milwaukee Brewers. In his Mets debut, McKinney will look to bring some pop to the lineup, while also bringing another strong defender into the outfield.
Rockies Lineup
- Raimel Tapia – LF
- Ryan McMahon – 3B
- Trevor Story – SS
- Charlie Blackmon – RF
- Joshua Fuentes – 1B
- Brendan Rodgers – 2B
- Garrett Hampson – CF
- Dom Nunez – C
- German Marquez – LHP
Mets Lineup
- Jonathan Villar – 3B
- Francisco Lindor – SS
- James McCann – 1B
- Billy McKinney – RF
- Tomas Nido – C
- Brandon Drury – LF
- Jose Peraza – 2B
- Cameron Maybin – CF
- Marcus Stroman – RHP
Marcus Stroman will take the mound for the Mets. In his first nine starts and 52 1/3 innings pitched, Stroman has a 2.75 ERA, 3.74 FIP, 1.070 WHIP and a 141 ERA+.
He bounced back in his last start, going six innings, allowing just two runs, while striking out eight. His best start of the season actually came against the Rockies where he pitched eight innings at Coors Field and yielded just one run off three hits. The Rockies have the following numbers against him:
- Charlie Blackmon 2-5, BB, K
- Trevor Story 3-9, 2B
- Raimel Tapia 2-9, 2B, 2 K
- C.J. Cron 3-13, 3 K
- Dom Nunez 0-2, BB, K
- Brendan Rodgers 0-3
- Ryan McMahon 0-6, K
The Mets bats get to see German Marquez, who paced the National League last year with 81 2/3 innings pitched. He is currently leading the league with his 10 starts, but has tossed only 52.1 innings with a 4.82 ERA, 3.97 FIP, 1.586 WHIP and a 96 ERA+.
Walks have wrecked Marquez’s pitch count this year, as he leads the league with 30 walks (he had 25 over 81.2 innings last year). The right-hander is coming off of a great start against the Diamondbacks where he shut them out over seven innings, allowing four hits while striking out eight.
One of Marquez’s best starts of this season actually came against the Mets on April 17th, when he squared off against a lineup that still included Brandon Nimmo, Michael Conforto, Pete Alonso, Jeff McNeil and Kevin Pillar.
In the second game of a double-header, Marquez hurled a complete seven-inning game, in which he allowed just two runs off two hits and two talks. He set six Mets down on strikes that night. The Mets have the following numbers against him:
- Francisco Lindor 1-4, 2B, 2 BB
- Jonathan Villar 4-10, 2 2B, K
- Brandon Drury 3-16, 2 2B, HR, 2 K
- Jose Peraza 1-3
- Dominic Smith 0-3, BB, K
- Tomas Nido 0-2
- James McCann 0-3, 2 K
Game Notes
- Dominic Smith is not in the starting lineup tonight, as he has a contusion on his knee from when he scored on Tomas Nido’s home run last night. Smith was forced to slid into home because the ball was not initially ruled a home run by the umpires on the field.
- Manager Luis Rojas says that Smith will still be available off the bench.
- In his Mets debut, Brandon McKinney will get the first start of his MLB career as a cleanup hitter.
