Mandatory Credit: Brad Penner-USA TODAY Sports
The New York Mets (29-23, first place in the National League’s eastern division) will conclude their nine-game road trip with two games at Camden Yards against manager Brandon Hyde‘s Baltimore Orioles (21-38, fifth place in the American League’s eastern division).
The Mets have won four of the first seven games on the current trip, taking two-of-three in Arizona and splitting four games against the Padres in San Diego. The Mets won the final two games in San Diego, which should give the team a nice lift after Monday’s off day.
The under-manned Mets played one of the best teams in the National League, and showed the grit they’ve shown all season to come back and win Saturday and Sunday behind the brilliant pitching of Jacob deGrom Saturday, and a fine mound effort by Marcus Stroman on Sunday.
Though a few key players have returned (Pete Alonso, Seth Lugo, Kevin Pillar), the Mets are still without Michael Conforto and Jeff McNeil, who along with J.D. Davis and Brandon Nimmo, are on the injured list and not close to returning. The good news is that infielder Luis Guillorme is getting close, and may be in uniform by this upcoming weekend.
The Orioles are coming off a weekend series in Baltimore against the Indians, in which the birds took two-of-three, including an 18-run outburst on Sunday afternoon. It has been a rough season for Hyde’s crew, who struggle in the pitching department (27th in team ERA). When the Mets and Orioles clashed at Citi Field on May 11 and 12, the Mets swept the brief two-game series.
The forecast is for similar weather both Tuesday and Wednesday nights in Baltimore, with hot and humid conditions and a chance of isolated thunderstorms. While the Mets have had more than their share of weather problems this season, they should be able to get both games in. The Mets will then take Thursday off, and play host to the Padres for three games over this coming weekend.
Let’s take a look at the expected pitching matchups for the series.
Tuesday, June 8, LHP David Peterson (1-4) NYM vs LHP Bruce Zimmermann (3-3) BAL, 7:05 pm
Peterson in 2021: GS: 10, ERA: 5.89, IP: 44.1, H: 42, ER: 29, HR: 9, BB: 20, SO: 49, WHIP: 1.40
Zimmermann in 2021: GS: 9, ERA: 4.96, IP: 49.0, H: 60, ER: 27, HR: 11, BB: 15, SO: 43, WHIP: 1.53
For Peterson, the story is simple. He needs to be better. There is no more profound example than his last start in Arizona on June 2. The Mets staked him to a four-run lead before he took the mound, and he responded by lasting only one-third of an inning, allowing five earned runs. The Mets had to heavily tap the bullpen in that game, and escaped with a 7-6 win.
Peterson has had some good starts this season, such as his 7.1 innings of two-run ball against the Rays on May 14, but starts of that nature have been very few and far between. Peterson was 6-2 with a 3.44 ERA in his 2020 rookie season. He needs to get closer to that level of performance.
Zimmermann, a Baltimore native, is in his second season, having started one game for the Orioles last year. He also had one relief appearance and posted a 7.71 over 7.o innings pitched in 2020. He does throw particularly hard, averaging 91.8 mph with his fastball that he throws 44.5% of the time. He also features a changeup (26.5%), slider (15.5%), and a curve (13.5%).
The game can be seen locally on SNY, and heard locally on WCBS radio 880 am.
Credit: Wendell Cruz-USA TODAY Sports
Wednesday, June 9, RHP Taijuan Walker (4-2) NYM vs RHP Matt Harvey (3-6) BAL, 7:05 pm
Walker in 2021: GS: 10, ERA: 2.17, IP: 54.0, H: 34, ER: 13, HR: 2, BB: 23, SO: 51, WHIP: 1.06
Harvey in 2021: GS: 12, ERA: 6.62, IP: 51.2, H: 66, ER: 38, HR: 8, BB: 17, SO: 45, WHIP: 1.61
In his last outing on June 3 in San Diego, Walker went five innings, allowing four runs (three earned) on seven hits and four walks. It was an uncharacteristically rough start for the Shreveport, LA native, who has been outstanding this season. Walker will be making his third start since coming off the injured list, and in the first two has shown no ill effects of the left-side tightness that took him out of action.
Harvey, whom the Mets beat on May 12, started this season off well, but has been struggling since early May (1-5 in his last six decisions). The New London, CT native is trying to reinvent himself as a pitcher who throws to contact, a much different version than the Harvey who pitched for Mets from 2012-2018 (May), and was quite the strikeout pitcher. Harvey now relies on his two-seam fastball (61%), that averages 93.3 mph, in contrast to the nearly 97 mph he averaged on his four-seam fastball in the first few years of his Mets career.
The game can be seen locally on SNY, and heard locally on WCBS radio 880 am.
Series Notes for Mets
Mets by the numbers, with MLB rankings:
BA .234 (18th)
OBP .313 (16th)
SLG .368 (26th)
OPS .681 (23rd)
Team ERA 3.05 (2nd)
Starters’ ERA 2.82 (1st)
Relievers’ ERA 3.36 (6th)
Mets OPS leaders (among players who are active through games of 6/1) are Pete Alonso (.770), Jonathan Villar (.744), Dominic Smith (.704), James McCann .666), Francisco Lindor (.647)
Additional notable Mets on the injured list:
Tommy Hunter, Johneshwy Fargas
While he was not on the injured list, Villar has not started a game since June 2. The Mets hope that he will be able to start on Tuesday night.
Series Notes for Orioles
Orioles by the numbers, with MLB rankings:
BA .239 (11th)
OBP .304 (22nd)
SLG .399 (13th)
OPS .703 (14th)
Team ERA 4.84 (27th)
Starters’ ERA 5.24 (29th)
Relievers’ ERA 4.38 (21st)
Active Orioles’ OPS leaders (among players who are active through games of 6/1) are Cedric Mullins (.923), Trey Mancini (.833), Freddy Galvis (.781), DJ Stewart (.749), Ryan Mountcastle (.729)
Notable Orioles on the injured list:
While the Orioles have a respectable offense and Mullins has been very hot of late, the Mets should be able to hit Baltimore’s pitching and take advantage of the dimensions at Camden Yards. The key to this series will be the Mets’ starters Peterson and Walker, who will be pitching in a hitter-friendly park and have to give their offense a chance to work on Zimmermann and Harvey.
Both Walker and Peterson will need to better than they were in their last starts.
The Mets go into this series up by three and one-half games in the division. Their schedule gets extremely difficult from here, as the Mets will play the Padres, the red-hot Cubs, then engage in a stretch where they will play three doubleheaders from June 19-June 26.
It will behoove the Mets to have a good series in Baltimore, and gather some momentum for the challenges to come.
