The New York Mets are looking to seek revenge against its NL East rival when it hosts the Miami Marlins for a three-game series beginning Friday.
Despite salvaging its three-game series against the Cincinnati Reds with a 4-2 win Wednesday, the New York Mets have lost five of its last six games and own the third-worst record in the National League at 23-33.
The Mets have struggled to produce consistently and can never seem to have the offense, defense and pitching going well at the same time. The team has dealt with several injuries, but even when most of the team was healthy, New York hasn’t been able to string together a ton of wins.
The Mets rode an early lead to victory in the series finale, jumping out to a 1-0 lead in the first inning after left fielder Juan Soto hit his 12th home run of the season followed by designated hitter Eric Wagaman’s first homer as a Met in the second. The two teams swapped a pair of runs in the third, fifth, sixth and seventh innings.
After reliever Huascar Brazoban opened the game with a scoreless inning, rookie right-hander Jonah Tong earned the win as he pitched 3.2 innings and allowed an unearned run on three hits and four walks while striking out one.
Closer Devin Williams loaded the bases on walks with only one out but struck out three (including the last two batters he faced) to get out of the jam and complete the save.
The Mets had the day off yesterday and now get to host the Miami Marlins, who swept the Mets last week in Miami. It will be a rematch and battle of the ace right-handers between New York’s Freddy Peralta and Miami’s Max Meyer.
Peralta has thrown the ball well for the Mets in his lone season with the club but maybe not as good as advertised. Still, the two-time All-Star is 3-4 with a solid 3.52 ERA, 1.27 WHIP and 63 strikeouts through 11 starts (61.1 innings).
Peralta last worked against these Marlins and pitched seven innings of four-run ball on eight hits and two walks while punching out nine. He allowed two home runs to catcher Liam Hicks and took his fourth loss of the season.
Meyer is a perfect 5-0 with a 2.52 ERA (11th), 1.05 WHIP and 68 strikeouts through 11 starts (60.2 innings). The 27-year-old continued his breakout season against the Mets when he allowed just one hit and three walks while striking out eight through seven innings to outduel Peralta.
Meyer took the first battle on his home turf, so Peralta will want to return the favor in New York.
First pitch is at 7:10 p.m. EDT on ESPN Unlimited, MLB.TV and regional sports networks.
