Game Chat: Pirates vs Mets, 1:10 PM
Wednesday, April 17, 2024 • 1:10 PM
Citi Field • Flushing, NY
LHP Bailey Falter (1-0, 4.00) vs. RHP Luis Severino (1-1, 3.00)
SNY
The Mets look to sweep the Pirates this afternoon to close out the homestand!
The Mets are rolling right now, winning three straight games, four consecutive series, and nine of their last 12 games. Tuesday night was their second come-from-behind victory in a row. This time, the Mets were down 1-0 and capitalized on a Pirates team struggling with fundamentals by scoring a key run on a balk. The Mets bullpen continued its dominance, shutting the door once the Mets had the lead.
Pete Alonso. Mandatory Credit: Gregory Fisher-USA TODAY Sports
Mets Lineup
- Brandon Nimmo – LF
- Starling Marte – DH
- Francisco Lindor – SS
- Pete Alonso – 1B
- Jeff McNeil – 2B
- Francisco Alvarez – C
- Tyrone Taylor – RF
- Harrison Bader – CF
- Zack Short – 3B
Luis Severino is on the bump to finish off the Pirates today. Over his first three starts of the season, Severino has pitched 15 innings with a 3.00 ERA, 3.91 FIP, 1.400 WHIP, and a 139 ERA+. He’s coming off of arguably his best start of the season, where he held the Royals to one run from one hit over five innings. He was limited to only five innings due a season high four walks allowed. His next step, like many of the starters in the Mets rotation, is to get through six or more innings (he’s pitched exactly five innings in each start this season). The Pirates have the following career numbers against Luis Severino:
- Oneil Cruz 1-3, BB
- Ke’Bryan Hayes 1-4 2 K
- Bryan Reynolds 2-5, 2B, K
- Jack Suwinski 0-5, 2 K
- Michael A. Taylor 2-2, HR
- Rowdy Tellez 0-4, 2 K
Opposing Lineup
- Oneil Cruz – SS
- Bryan Reynolds – DH
- Connor Joe – LF
- Rowdy Tellez – 1B
- Edward Olivares – RF
- Jack Suwinski – CF
- Joey Bart – C
- Jared Triolo – 3B
- Alika Williams – 2B
The Mets bats will look to give Severino some breathing room tonight by scoring runs against Bailey Falter. Over three starts this season (15 innings), Falter has a 4.20 ERA, 4.98 FIP, 0.933 WHIP and a 102 ERA+. Early season stats are easy to skew, which is happening to Falter here. In his first start of the season he allowed six runs from five hits and three walks over four innings in Miami. Since then, he has allowed one run from five hits and a walk over 11 innings against the Orioles and Phillies. Falter faced the Mets once last year and allowed one run from four hits (including a solo homer) over 5 1/3 innings. The Mets have the following career numbers against Falter:
- Pete Alonso 1-6, HR, BB, K
- Francisco Alvarez 1-2
- Brett Baty 0-2
- Francisco Lindor 2-5, 3 BB, K
- Starling Marte 1-5, K
- Jeff McNeil 1-6, K
- Brandon Nimmo 2-7, HR, BB, 3 K
- Tyrone Taylor 1-4, K
- Joey Wendle 0-4
Game Notes
Brett Baty will get a day of rest the night after leaving the game early with a tight left hamstring. The Mets are optimistic that Baty will avoid the injured list.
Reed Garrett struck out six batters in two scoreless innings on Tuesday night, continuing to be one of the best relievers in baseball.
Brandon Sproat, Blade Tidwell and Christian Scott all had good outings on Tuesday in the Mets minor leagues.
Wednesday marks the 60th anniversary of the first game ever played at Citi Field.
Three Things To Watch For
- The Mets pitchers have been limiting hits. The Mets have allowed 128 hits this season, that’s tied with the Guardians for second best in the league (Tigers lead the league at 116). The last two days the Mets have allowed a total of eight hits. While this is an unsustainably low rate, this is at the heart of the Mets comeback over the last 12 games. The Mets lead the National league in ERA at 3.33 and sixth overall in the league (Royals lead the league at 2.86).
- Doubles, again! Before Tuesday’s game, we talked about how hitting doubles was a major change for the Mets. The Mets had four of them in Monday night’s game. Three of the four hits Tuesday night were doubles. Hitting doubles has put the Mets in a position over the last several days for more interesting things to happen. Double steal? They did that Monday night. Score on a balk? They did that Tuesday night. When the Mets get runners into scoring position, good things happen.
- The back of the Bullpen is rested. The Mets needed to give Raley, Ottavino and Díaz the night off on Tuesday after all pitched on back-to-back days. Reed Garrett came in as a savior again, pitching two spectacular innings. López and Smith slammed the door closed behind Garrett. Now the big arms rested and ready to go to complete the sweep today.
Let’s go Mets!
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