Here are five things to watch for as the Mets begin a four-game series in Pittsburgh against the Pirates, starting Friday night. By losing the last two games of the series in Washington D.C, the Mets have slipped under .500 again at 42-43.
PREVIEW
Edwin Diaz returns from suspension
Diaz completes his 10-game sticky-stuff suspension Friday and is eligible to return Saturday for the second game of this four-game set.
Presumably, he will reclaim his role as the closer and perhaps give the bullpen a much-needed lift. The Mets are 5-4 without Diaz so far during his suspension and his absence may well have cost them multiple wins considering that all four of the losses were decided in the late innings as manager Carlos Mendoza was forced to juggle a makeshift bullpen while playing a man short.
With their lack of proven relievers, the Mets desperately need Diaz to return to his dominant form of 2022. His meltdowns in May sent the Mets into a tailspin but after he returned from his IL stint he put up scoreless innings in three appearances before being ejected for sticky stuff in Chicago on June 23.
New York will get the Paul Skenes experience
The series opens Friday night with a sparkling pitching matchup, as the Pirates rookie sensation opposes Luis Severino.
Skenes has lived up to the hype as last year’s No. 1 pick out of the country, going 4-0 with a 2.06 ERA in the nine starts since his call-up, while routinely hitting 100 mph on the radar gun with his fastball and averaging 12 strikeouts per nine innings.
Severino, meanwhile, has been the Mets’ best starter pitching to a 3.42 ERA over 16 starts, holding the opponent to one or zero runs in eight of those starts.
The Mets will miss the Pirates’ other rookie star, Jared Jones, who would have been on turn to pitch the Monday finale but was placed on the IL with a strained lat muscle after his start on Wednesday against the St. Louis Cardinals.
Will the bats bounce back?
Before being one-hit in Thursday’ 1-0 loss to the Washington Nationals, the Mets’ offense had been putting up big numbers, scoring 65 runs in its previous nine games. They scored at least five runs in each of those nine games.
Beyond that streak, the offense was primarily responsible for the Mets’ 16-8 record in June that turned around their season. For the month, they led the majors in batting average (.283) and OPS (.863) while scoring the second-most runs (153).
The Mets have gotten production up and down the lineup, but lately they’ve been fueled by their youngest regulars, Mark Vientos and Francisco Alvarez.
Can Mets’ pitching dominate weak-hitting Pirates?
The Pirates rank near the bottom of all major league teams in most offensive categories, most significantly 25th in runs scored.
In losing four of their last six games to fall to 41-45, Pittsburgh scored a total of only 17 runs, or fewer than three runs per game.
In addition to Severino on Friday night, the Mets are scheduled to start David Peterson, Sean Manaea, and rookie Christian Scott. All are coming off reasonably good starts, including Scott, who had a strong outing spoiled by his final pitch Wednesday against the Nationals, as he hung a slider that Luis Garcia crushed for a three-run home run.GMs always say the price to make a trade is much higher weeks before the trade deadline (July 30th) but if Stearns believes in this team he needs to make a deal as soon as possible.
Is it too early for David Stearns to trade for bullpen help?
Even with Diaz expected to return Saturday, the Mets need to fortify their bullpen if they’re going to take advantage of their much-improved offense and make a run at a wild-card spot.
As good as Adrian Houser has been in the bullpen since getting bounced from the rotation, ideally he’s not the guy Mendoza wants to turn to in a zero-zero game in the eighth inning, as was the case Thursday when Houser gave up the game-winning home run to Jesse Winker.
The Mets were also forced to call up Triple-A starter Jose Butto on Wednesday to help out in the pen.
Rookie Dedniel Nunez has been a nice surprise, but Reed Garrett has struggled lately after his own unexpected dominance, and the Mets need more quality bullpen arms to have a realistic chance of staying in contention for a wild card spot.
Predictions
Who will be the MVP of the series?
Edwin Diaz
Back from suspension Saturday, Diaz could be in position to lock down two wins in the series, and if he does so it would be a huge lift for the Mets.
Which Pirates will be a thorn in the Mets’ side?
Bryan Reynolds
Reynolds has often been a tough out over the years for the Mets. In 29 games against them he’s hit .290 with four home runs and an OPS of .836.
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