Series Preview: Meet Me In St. Louis

The New York Mets are heading to St. Louis to face the Cardinals in the final series of their second road trip. The Mets took two of three games from the lowly Diamondbacks in their last series. The Dbacks played a sloppy series, making four errors in the previous two games. The Mets will face stiffer competition in St. Louis, as the Cardinals are one of the league’s most prepared and defensively sound teams. Since the Mets have won their first five series of the season, the hope is that they will continue that streak by taking at least two of the three games against St. Louis. The Cardinals also have not yet lost a series, but they split their third series with the Brewers.

In the Arizona series, the Mets got production from some players struggling to start the year. J.D. Davis and James McCann each hit their first home runs of the season. Davis also went two for three in the final game. In addition, Francisco Lindor and Jeff McNeil continued their solid starts to the season. Lindor got a hit in all three games, and McNeil hit his first triple of the season, going two for three in game two. In Arizona, Pete Alonso cooled off, managing only two hits (both singles) in the entire series.

The starting pitching was also solid in Arizona. David Peterson pitched 5 2/3 innings of one-run ball in game one. Tylor Megill showed again that he is an integral part of this rotation, tossing 6 2/3 innings in game three and giving up only two runs. Unlike the starters, the bullpen faltered a bit in the series. In game one, Trevor May gave up a home run late that put the Diamondbacks back in the game, and Edwin Diaz blew his first game of the season. Game two was a bullpen game, and it was the only game the Mets lost in the series.

The Cardinals are coming into the series against the Mets with a 9-4 record, and back-to-back series wins against the Marlins and the Reds. Nolan Arenado has gotten off to a hot start for the Cardinals- he is batting .346/.426/.727 with five home runs and 14 RBIs. Albert Pujols seems to be rejuvenated in his return to the red birds- he has two home runs in eight games and even managed to score from first on a double in the gap hit off the bat of Tommy Edman. Edman is also off to a good start and is batting .313/.400/.563. The Cardinals’ bullpen has been superb, and they have not lost a game yet this season. The Mets will miss Adam Wainwright in this series but should hopefully see some of Yadier Molina and Pujols during this series. While both Molina and Pujols have confirmed that this year is their final season, Wainwright keeps the door open for more.

Preview

Monday, April 25, 2022: RHP Max Scherzer (3-0, 2.50 ERA) vs. RHP Miles Mikolas (1-0, 1.76 ERA)

Max Scherzer could not have written a better script for his first start at Citi Field as a New York Met. He had a no-hitter going through 6 2/3 innings before giving up his only hit of the night. Scherzer likely would not have gotten the chance to complete the no-hitter, as his pitch count was high for so early in the season. But there’s a good chance we’ll see more greatness from him as the season goes on.

This year, Miles Mikolas has started three games for the Cardinals but has only thrown 15 1/3 innings. His low innings total likely explains the two no-decisions he has so far. Mikolas struck out five batters in five innings in his last start against the Marlins.

Tuesday, April 26, 2022: RHP Chris Bassitt (2-1, 3.00 ERA) vs. RHP Jordan Hicks (1-1, 1.29 ERA).

Chris Bassitt’s last start was the only Mets’ loss to the Giants during their four-game series at Citi Field. He gave up five earned runs in his six innings of work. That start was Bassitt’s worst start as a Met so far.  Bassitt has only faced the Cardinals once in his career, in 2019. He did not pitch well, throwing 95 pitches in 3 1/3 innings and giving up three runs. Hopefully, Bassitt can shake off his early inning struggles from the Giants’ game and his previous Cardinals’ game and give the Mets a solid start in game two.

Jordan Hicks has exclusively been a reliever for the Cardinals through his first three seasons. He is transitioning to full-time starter in 2022, though a couple of rainouts have slowed the transition, and he has appeared as a reliever in two of his three games this season. As a reliever, Hicks could throw his fastball as fast as 105 mph. As a newly minted starter, he throws about 22% of his pitches faster than 100 mph. However, because of his injury history and a missed season during 2020 (Hicks has type 1 diabetes and opted out of the season due to health concerns), Hicks is working to build up his arm strength and is deliberately throwing at less than max effort. As a result, he was limited to only three innings in his first outing as a starter.

Wednesday, April 27, 2022: RHP Carlos Carrasco (1-0, 1.47 ERA) vs. LHP Steven Matz (2-1, 5.27 ERA)

The Carlos Carrasco Mets fans have been treated so far in 2022, as this is the Carlos Carrasco fans were hoping they were getting in 2021. With his hamstring injuries behind him and his surgically cleaned-up pitching elbow, Carrasco has proven this year that he can still pitch to the back of his baseball card. This season, he has struck out 20 batters and pitched into the eighth inning in his last start against the Giants, making him the first Mets starter to do so this year.

Steven Matz will make his second start against his former team since he was traded from the Mets to the Blue Jays in 2021. In his first start against the Mets in 2021, Matz threw 5 2/3 innings and gave up two runs; he was ultimately the losing pitcher in that outing. Matz’s 2022 season with the Cardinals has gotten a bumpy start. In his first game of the season, he gave up seven runs in three innings against the rebuilding Pirates. He bounced back and threw 5 2/3 scoreless innings against the Brewers in his second start, followed by five innings of one-run ball against the Reds.

Prediction

The Mets will continue their winning ways in St. Louis and take at least two games in the series. The pitching match-ups are favorable, and because of a couple of rainouts and one extra day off for the Cardinals, the Mets’ starters are more stretched out than the Cardinals’ starters. One obstacle to winning two of three might be the Cardinals’ bullpen, but hopefully, the Mets’ hitters can find a way to score some late-inning runs.