Series Preview: NY Mets drop in on the Pirates

The New York Mets come to PNC Park to visit the Pirates this weekend for a three-game series. The Mets made some noise at the trade deadline, landing star pitcher Marcus Stroman who will make his Mets debut on Saturday.

New York is hot right now, winning seven in a row (eight of their last ten). They are 11 games behind the Atlanta Braves in the National League East but just four games out of the second Wild Card position.

Pittsburgh has been floundering, winning just one out of the last ten.

The Pirate offense is going to have to find some kind of spark because the pitching match-ups this weekend are going to be rough. The Pirates are currently the fifth-lowest scoring team in the National League, one spot below the Mets.

The last time these two met, the Pirates were swept and outscored 17-10.

Schedule

Friday, 7:05 p.m — Trevor Williams (3-4, 4.77 ERA) vs. Steven Matz (6-6, 4.32 ERA)
TV: AT&T SportsNet-PIT

Saturday, 7:05 p.m. — Chris Archer (3-8, 5.58 ERA) vs. Marcus Stroman (6-11, 2.96 ERA)
TV: AT&T SportsNet-PIT

Sunday, 1:35 p.m. — TBD vs. Noah Syndergaard (7-5, 4.10 ERA)
TV: AT&T SportsNet-PIT

All games EST

Mets Notes

Offense

-Michael Conforto has been leading the Met offense with a 155 wRC+, adding three home runs and eight RBIs. He’s striking out in just 17.5% of his at-bats.

-Robinson Cano is holding a .342 ISO through his last 39 plate appearances. He’s hit four home runs and driven in nine runners. Yet outside of that power, he’s not doing much else; Cano is hitting .211 on a .133 BABIP

-Peter Alonso has been struggling quite a bit in his last nine games. He has a .133 batting average with a 26.8% K-rate. However, he’s been able to get on base (.366) although its due to his 24.4% walk rate.

Pitching

-Steven Matz starts the Friday night game at PNC. His last start was against the Pirates, throwing a complete game shutout with seven strikeouts and no walks. Prior to that gem, his starts have not been great. His previous two outings saw him go a total of 10 innings, allowing four runs off 11 hits with a 4-1 K/BB rate.

-The Mets new pitcher Marcus Stroman dons the orange and blue for the first time Saturday evening. In his last 20 innings pitched, Stroman has given up four runs on 18 hits with three walks and 18 strikeouts. Only three times have teams scored more than three runs on the righty.

-Noah Syndergaard closes out the series for the Mets and faces the Pirates for the first time in 2019. In each of Syndergaard’s last four starts, he’s thrown at least seven innings without giving up more than three earned runs. Back on July 24th against the San Diego Padres, he allowed those three earned runs off of eight hits and five walks. The other outings were much better, as he yielded three total earned runs with a 14-1 K/BB rate. He did well keeping the ball in the park in July as well, allowing just two home runs total through five starts.

First pitch is set for 7:05 EST in PNC Park.