Mets Facing Old Friend For First Time Since Trade To Rays

The New York Mets have been playing much better in the second half since trading away most of their expiring veteran contracts.

After knocking off the Tampa Bay Rays 3-2 in their series opener Monday, the Mets are 22-19 since the All-Star break and have been playing a cleaner brand of baseball. The offense is hitting well, the defense is making more plays and the pitching staff has been limiting runs.

New York took a three-run lead into the eighth inning before the Rays scored twice but veteran right-hander Chris Devenski got former Met Cedric Mullins to ground out to end the threat with a runner on third base. New closer Kodai Senga had a solid inning in the ninth to lock down the save.

The Mets will look to secure the series victory over the first-place Rays with lefty Sean Manaea getting the start against a familiar face.

Right-hander Freddy Peralta will make his first start against his former team after being traded to the Rays on Aug. 2.

It didn’t go well for Peralta with New York, and it hasn’t gone too well for him with Tampa Bay either. With the Mets, Peralta went just 5-9 with a 4.99 ERA and 1.48 WHIP through 22 starts (113.2 innings) while tying his career low for strikeout-to-walk ratio (2.4).

With the Rays, Peralta is 1-2 with a 5.60 ERA and 1.13 WHIP through five starts (27.1 innings) with an improved strikeout-to-walk ratio of 3.3. The underlying metrics say Peralta has pitched better since joining Tampa Bay, but he’s certainly still had his struggles.

Peralta’s last time out was his best start with his new team, though, and he pitched six scoreless innings while allowing just two hits with no walks and four strikeouts against the Detroit Tigers.

Overall, Peralta is 6-11 with a 5.11 ERA, 1.41 WHIP and 133 strikeouts to 54 walks through 27 starts (141 innings). After being extremely reliable year after year with the Milwaukee Brewers, even finishing fifth in National League Cy Young voting when he won 17 games and boasted a 2.70 ERA last season, Peralta is having his worst season as a starter.

New York easily won the trade, acquiring prospects Émilien Pitre (No. 11), Aidan Smith (No. 16) and Gary Gill Hill (No. 17) for half a bad season of Peralta.

Although he’s had a season to forget, expect Peralta to have a chip on his shoulder against his former team.

First pitch is at 6:40 p.m. EDT on MLB.TV and regional sports networks.