The New York Mets are coming off a series win against the San Francisco Giants after winning three of four in the Bay Area.
The New York Mets are playing well and carry a 6-4 record into a three-game home series against the Arizona Diamondbacks after taking the final three games of a four-game set in San Francisco versus the Giants.
The Mets have combined excellent pitching with timely hitting, mainly from its newcomers, and appear to be in a rhythm. The pitching staff ranks highly with a 2.53 ERA (third), 1.15 WHIP (tied-fifth), .213 opponent batting average (tied-eighth), 34 walks allowed (tied-ninth) and 92 strikeouts (tied-11th).
The bullpen has been even better, posting a 1.66 bullpen ERA (second) and routinely getting outs to maintain leads or keep the team in games.
The offense got off to a bit of a slow start after Opening Day (11 runs for), scoring no more than four runs in the six games that followed before breaking out for 10-3, 9-0 and 5-2 wins over the Giants to take the series. As mentioned above, the newcomers have been contributing recently.
Center fielder Luis Robert Jr. is batting .333 with a .907 OPS and has a home run (walk-off) with six RBI while owning an five-to-eight strikeout-to-walk ratio. He has also swiped two bags while playing good defense, exactly what the Mets were hoping for when it traded for him in the offseason.
Second baseman Marcus Semien is showing he can still swing it after a couple of bad offensive seasons, posting a .257/.341/.400 (.741 OPS) slash line with a homer and six RBI of his own. He was 7-for-15 with two extra-base hits against San Francisco.
Third baseman Bo Bichette had a rough beginning to his Mets tenure but woke up in the Giants series, going 6-for-18 (.333) with two doubles and three RBI over the four games.
Designated hitter/infielder Jorge Polanco is off to a cold start but picked up a couple of hits including a double in the series finale, perhaps a sign that he will get hot soon.
The Mets are sending its new ace, All-Star right-hander Freddy Peralta, to the bump for the series opener against Arizona. Diamondbacks manager Torey Lovullo’s lineup has a fair amount of success against Peralta and looks like this:
1. Ketel Marte (2B)
2. Corbin Carroll (RF)
3. Geraldo Perdomo (SS)
4. Gabriel Moreno (C)
5. Adrian Del Castro (DH)
6. Nolan Arenado (3B)
7. Ildemaro Vargas (1B)
8. Alek Thomas (CF)
9. Jorge Barrosa (LF)
Peralta had a rocky Opening Day start but still got the win over the Pittsburgh Pirates after throwing five innings of four-run ball on six hits with seven strikeouts. “Fastball Freddy” got the no-decision in his last start against the St. Louis Cardinals but pitched a much cleaner game, lasting 5.1 innings and allowing just one run on three hits and two walks with seven more strikeouts.
Arizona will have right-hander Zac Gallen toeing the rubber coming off six scoreless innings in a winning effort against the Detroit Tigers. He only struck out two but allowed just four hits and didn’t walk a batter. Gallen’s first start against the Los Angeles Dodgers didn’t go too well (shocker), but it wasn’t horrible. He allowed four runs on five hits and two walks through four innings and took the loss.
He will face a Mets lineup that has limited success against him:
1. Francisco Lindor (SS)
2. Bichette (3B)
3. Polanco (DH)
4. Robert (CF)
5. Brett Baty (RF)
6. Mark Vientos (1B)
7. Semien (2B)
8. Carson Benge (LF)
9. Francisco Alvarez (C)
Look for Baty (2-for-3), Semien (5-for-19) and Alvarez (1-for-2) to set the tone for the Mets on Tuesday.