Series Preview: Looking For Gold In San Francisco

After taking two of three from the Rockies in Denver, the Mets are heading to San Francisco for the final leg of their road trip. When the Mets last faced the Giants at Citi Field in April, the Mets won three of four games. But the last time the Mets faced the Giants in California, back in 2021, it was part of a disastrous west coast trip that marked the beginning of the end for the 2021 Mets’ playoff aspirations. This time around, things should go much better for the 2022 Mets.

For starters, the Mets are 28-15, good for first place and an eight-game lead in the NL East. The Giants are 22-17, in third place in the NL West, and are coming off a 10-1 loss to the Padres in a series where they were swept by the Padres at home. Although the Mets and Giants are both expected to be playoff contenders, it’s fair to say that at this juncture, the Giants are on a cold streak while the Mets are taking care of business.

Luis Guillorme was the unexpected star of the Rockies series for the Mets. He went five for seven at the plate in the two games that he played, and also played some stellar defense, both at second in game one and at third in game two. Starling Marte was huge in his return from the bereavement list, hitting a two-run homer off the first pitch in his first at-bat of game one.

The Mets pitching staff was also solid in Denver, holding the Rockies offense to less than two runs in game one and game three. Spot starter Trevor Williams and the rest of the bullpen faltered in game two, but the other games were huge successes.

The Giants are coming into this series against the Mets having lost four games in a row, one against the Rockies and three against the Padres. Like many teams this season, the Giants are dealing with injuries. Evan Longoria and Tommy La Stella have spent significant time on the injured list, and starting pitcher Anthony DeSclafani, who pitched against the Mets back in April, is out until at least June 21. The Giants have also been hit by Covid-19. Brandon Belt and Mike Yastrzemski both missed time after testing positive for Covid-19.

Despite all the injuries and absences, things are not as bleak for the Giants as they could be. Retired Giants’ beat reporter Henry Schulman, in his summary of the Giants’ season through the first 40 games, noted that they have only two less wins this year than they had at this time last year, during their 107-win season.

Still, the Giant’s will need more consistent offensive production from their players who have missed time, and better starting pitching if they want to succeed in 2022. Especially because, as Schulman pointed out, the Padres have joined the Dodgers at the top of the NL West, something that was not the case last season.

Monday, May 23, 2022: LHP David Peterson (1-0, 1.89 ERA) vs. RHP Alex Cobb (3-1, 5.61 ERA)

Peterson has been up and down between the majors and Triple-A this year, filling in the major league rotation because of injuries to other starters . In this series, Peterson is pitching in place of Max Scherzer, who is on the injured list with a moderate to high grade oblique strain. Peterson’s last start in the major leagues was against the Braves, and he gave up four runs in five innings of work. Peterson has never faced the Giants, and only two current Giants have had at-bats against him: Thairo Estrada and Kevin Padlo.

Cobb’s last two starts have been against the Rockies, one at home and one away. In the game in San Francisco, he went 5 1/3 innings and gave up one run. In the game in Colorado, he went 5 1/3 innings and gave up seven runs. Cobb faced the Mets back in April, giving up four runs in 4 1/3 innings. He left that game early due to right groin injury, and wound up on the 10-day injured list. He ended up spending a little over the minimum 10 days required before returning from the injured list, so it seems that injury was minor. As an aside, Cobb has yet to make it out of the sixth inning in any of his starts this year. Hopefully the Mets can knock him out early again this start, just without an injury this time.

Tuesday, May 24, 2022: RHP Chris Bassitt (4-2, 2.77 ERA) vs. RHP Logan Webb (5-1, 3.54 ERA)

Bassitt is the last remaining top of the rotation starter from the Mets’ spring training starters. He’s going to be counted on to help carry the load until Jacob deGrom and Scherzer can return. In his last start, Bassitt went 6 1/3 innings and gave up four runs. He faced the Giants back in April and gave up five runs in six innings in the only game the Mets lost in that series.

Webb, the ace of the Giants staff, has had a decent season so far, though he has not been nearly as dominant as he was against the Dodgers in the NLDS last year. In his last start in Denver, Webb gave up three runs in seven innings. In his start against the Mets back in April, he went 3 2/3 innings and gave up three runs. He tossed 75 pitches in that start, so the Mets should look again to up his pitch count and give him an early exit.

Wednesday, May 25, 2022: TBD vs. RHP Jakob Junis (1-1, 2.70 ERA)

The Mets’ starter for this game is currently unannounced, but speculation from the beat reporters is that Thomas Szapucki will get the start. He was pulled from his start in Syracuse on May 20 after just one inning, and according to Anthony DiComo, Szapucki has flown to San Francisco to meet the team. In seven starts in Syracuse, Szapucki has a 2.86 ERA.

Junis stepped into the Giants’ rotation when DeSclafani went down with right ankle inflammation. He’s pitched well in his five starts so far this season, and, until the Padres managed to score four runs in six innings off of him on Friday, his ERA this season was under 2.

Junis has started one game against the Mets in his career, back in 2019. He went 6 1/3 innings and gave up three runs in that game, which was in San Francisco. Of the players on the current Mets squad, Francisco Lindor has the best numbers against Junis, as he is batting .500/.500/1.056 in 36 at-bats with five home runs and 14 RBIs. Perhaps a game against Junis will really get Lindor’s bat going.

Prediction

The Mets are catching the Giants at a down point in their season, so there’s a good chance the Mets win this series, as long as they get solid starts from Peterson and Szapucki. If either one of them falters, the Mets may be looking at their second losing series of 2022.