Series Preview: Pittsburgh Ahoy

The Mets (85-50) are heading to Pittsburgh to take on the Pirates (49-84) in a three-game series.

Last season, the Mets played the Pirates in two series that book-ended the All-Star break. At the time, New York was expected to easily take both series, if not sweep them. Instead, the teams split the first series while the Pirates won the second series. This season, the Mets are again expected to easily take this series against the Pirates who are once again in last place in the NL Central. Hopefully this time the Mets can get the job done, especially with their division lead down to one game over the Braves.

Of course, the Mets dropped their last series against the Nationals, who hold last place in the NL East, so nothing is guaranteed against the Pirates. After winning game one against the Nats, the Mets dropped games two and three 7-1. Max Scherzer left game two early due to a sore left side and the bullpen, namely Adonis Medina, was unable to keep the game close. Carlos Carrasco returned from the injured list two start game three, and he struggled. While Carrasco was only responsible for one earned run, thanks to an error, he only went 2 2/3 innings, and by the end of the third inning the Nats had a 4-0 lead.

The Mets have been struggling on offense lately, which contributed to their two losses against the Nationals. As Steve Gelbs noted, the team was scoring on average almost five runs per game, but that rate has slowed significantly over the last 12 games. The Mets have been held to only 36 runs in that span, or approximately three runs per game. It doesn’t matter how good their pitching has been; if the offense can’t score, especially against cellar-dwelling teams, they may find themselves looking up at the Braves in the standings.

The Pirates have not won a series since they swept the Brewers back at the beginning of August.

In their most recent series, they were swept by the Blue Jays in three games. The Pirates’ pitchers gave up four runs in each of the three games, while the offense was shut out in game one, scored once in game two, and three times in game three.

Unsurprisingly, based on their record, the Pirates’ offense is in the bottom three in the league for BA, OBP, SLG, and OPS. They are slightly better in terms of pitching, although it’s not saying much that they are in the bottom five in the league in ERA and WHIP. It’s really not surprising that the Pirates are as bad as their record says they are, but they are promoting a bunch of rookies this year and hopefully for the sake of the Pittsburgh fans things start looking up soon.

The start of the series was postponed due to rain on Monday, but the pitching matchups should be similar for Tuesday and the makeup game on Wednesday.

Tuesday, September 6, 2022: RHP Taijuan Walker (10-3, 3.45 ERA) vs. RHP Mitch Keller (4-10, 4.43 ERA)

Walker’s last start was against the Dodgers. He 5 1/3 innings, giving up three runs and striking out five. Walker had a bit of a rough August, at least in terms of the lengths of his starts. His longest start was on August 10, when he pitched six innings, and his shortest start was on August fifth, where he went a little over one inning. Walker has faced the Pirates three times in his career. He has a 7.94 ERA in 11 1/3 innings against them.

Keller’s last start was against the Brewers. He went six innings, giving up two runs, and striking out 10. Keller took a no-decision in that outing, but the Pirates ultimately won the game. Keller has never faced the Mets in his career. Tyler Naquin, a former Red, is the only current Met with more than two at-bats against Keller, and he has a .375 average against him with one RBI.

Wednesday, September 7, 2022: RHP Jacob deGrom (4-1, 1.98 ERA) vs. RHP Bryse Wilson (2-8, 6.12 ERA)

DeGrom’s most recent outing was against the Dodgers. He went seven innings, giving up one run and striking out nine. He would’ve given up another run, but he was saved thanks to a homerun-robbing catch by Brandon Nimmo. In his career against the Pirates, deGrom has a 2.43 ERA in 40 2/3 innings.

Wilson’s last start was against the Brewers. It was a short outing, as he only pitched three innings. He gave up three runs on five hits and struck out two. Wilson has faced the Mets only once in his career. He went only three innings in that start as well but did not give up any runs.

Wednesday, September 7, 2022: RHP Chris Bassitt (12-7, 3.32 ERA) vs. RHP Johan Oviedo (2-1, 2.86 ERA)

Like Walker and deGrom, Bassitt’s last start was also against the Dodgers. He went six innings, giving up two runs and striking out four. Bassitt has faced the Pirates once in his career. He gave up three runs in five innings in that start.

Oviedo was traded from the Cardinals to the Pirates at the deadline this season. While the Cardinals were primarily using Oviedo as a reliever, the Pirates have plans to stretch him out as a starter. In his first start for the Pirates, on September 2, he went three innings against the Blue Jays. He gave up only two hits, allowing no runs and striking out 4. Oviedo has faced the Mets once in his career, in a game he started in 2021. He gave up four runs in four innings in that game, striking out two.