The New York Mets had a thrilling opening series win against the Pittsburgh Pirates and now set its sights on another NL Central team, the St. Louis Cardinals.
After taking two of three games from the Pittsburgh Pirates in the opening series, the New York Mets travel to St. Louis for a three-game road set against the Cardinals beginning Monday.
St. Louis also won its first series by winning the first two games against the Tampa Bay Rays, and it was a bit of a shock to see the Cardinals play so well over the weekend. St. Louis isn’t expected to be a good team this season and are even predicted to finish last in the National League Central, but the Cardinals are off to a good start.
Unfortunately for them, the Mets are also off to a good start and have already had some great contributions from its newest additions.
Right-hander Freddy Peralta got the Opening Day start and was greeted by two home runs from Pirates second baseman Brandon Lowe through the first three innings but settled in nicely otherwise to earn the win in a high-scoring 11-7 victory.
The second game was scoreless until the 10th inning, when both teams exchanged RBI singles. The Pirates took another lead in the top of the 11th before new center fielder Luis Robert Jr. cranked a three-run home run to left center to win it 4-2 for the Mets. New York did lose the finale in 10 innings, but Robert stayed hot and went 2-for-3 with a walk in the loss.
Robert is 5-for-11 with a home run, five RBI, three walks and three runs scored in three games with the Mets, posting a 1.299 OPS and making a great first impression.
It hasn’t been great for all the new additions, though. First baseman Jorge Polanco is batting just .100 and third baseman Bo Bichette is 1-for-14 with one RBI and eight strikeouts. Bichette has even been booed by the Mets’ faithful three games into his tenure, which can’t be a fun experience for the two-time All-Star.
He and Polanco will get the chance to get back on the right track when they go up against right-hander Kyle Leahy, who was fantastic as a long reliever in 88 innings a season ago. Leahy appeared in 62 games (one start) and went 4-2 with a 3.07 ERA, 1.23 WHIP and 80 strikeouts.
St. Louis has seen great things from right fielder Jordan Walker, first baseman Alec Burleson, center fielder Victor Scott II and rookie infielder JJ Wetherholt so far and hope they can keep the offense rolling against Mets righty Clay Holmes.
Holmes was outstanding for Team USA during the World Baseball Classic but was pulled from the roster before the quarterfinals because the Mets wanted to make sure he could ramp up for the season properly. If he looks as sharp as he did against Team Great Britain (three innings, one hit, six strikeouts), it’s going to be a long night for the Cardinals.