Morning Briefing: Mets Look To Take Rubber Match In Philadelphia

Good Morning, Mets fans!

On Wednesday, Jacob deGrom had a surprisingly poor outing, only lasting two innings while giving up three runs before exiting with right hamstring spasms.

However, Michael Wacha picked him up with four innings of one-run baseball in long relief to keep the team in the game.

This performance wound up paying off as J.D. Davis and Andres Gimenez helped mount a late comeback against the Phillies’ bullpen as the Mets snatched the victory from their division rivals, 5-4.

Tonight, Seth Lugo will pitch the final game of this series as the Amazins’ look to win the rubber match versus Phillies’ ace Aaron Nola.

Now, let’s take a look at what else went on around the league yesterday!

Latest Mets News

According to Luis Rojas, Steven Matz is not available out of the bullpen and could start a game for the Mets this weekend, specifically Saturday, tweets Tim Britton of The Athletic.

As Tim Healey and David Lennon of Newsday reported, the rest of the league owners could vote on Steve Cohen’s approval before their set date in November.

Brandon Nimmo gives a candid answer when asked why the Mets lead the league in batting average but our 25th with runners in scoring position, question from Anthony DiComo of MLB.com.

Luis Rojas says he likes batting the red hot Jeff McNeil seventh in the order, story from Tim Healey of Newsday.

Struggling catcher Wilson Ramos “understands” why he isn’t playing as much recently, written by Justin Toscano of The Record.

Mets’ reliever Dellin Betances shows off his true New Yorker status in a fun video with the social media team, tweet from the Mets’ official Twitter page.

Latest MLB News

St. Louis Cardinals’ manager Mike Shildt has received a one-game suspension and an undisclosed fine for his actions that contributed to inciting a benches clearing incident between his team and the Milwaukee Brewers on Tuesday, tweet from Mark Feinsand of MLB.com.

The Yankees activated star outfielder Aaron Judge from the injured list on Wednesday, per their PR department.

Major League Baseball commissioner Rob Manfred and league officials are reportedly exploring the idea of keeping this year’s expanded playoff format in place permanently, per The Washington Post.

The MLB also announced the league’s spring training schedule for 2021, which will begin on February 27th, tweet from Bob Nightengale of USA TODAY.

The Blue Jays’ closer Ken Giles is back on the injured list with an elbow issue and Derek Fisher will join him after being hit in the knee with a pitch during batting practice. The team also added Teoscar Hernandez, Jacob Waguespack & Hector Perez to their active roster and optioned former Met Anthony Kay to their alternate site, tweet from SportsNet Canada.

Yankees’ rookie pitcher Deivi Garcia has been dealing and Dan Martin of The New York Post believes he’s one of the key x-factors revolving around their playoff chances.

MLB Insider Ken Rosenthal reminds us that future Hall of Famer Albert Pujols is one of the best right-handed hitters to play the game of baseball.

Latest NL East News

Prior to last night’s game, the Phillies placed Jake Arrieta and Kyle Garlick on the injured list and called up Connor Brogdon and top prospect Mickey Moniak, per club announcement.

The Atlanta Braves reinstated veteran left-handed pitcher Cole Hamels from the 45-day injured list and optioned right-handed pitcher Jasseel De La Cruz to their alternate site, per team announcement.