Game Chat: Tigers vs Mets, 7:10 P.M.

Monday, April 1, 2024 • 7:10 PM
Citi Field • Flushing, NY
RHP Reese Olson (0-0, -.–) vs. LHP Sean Manaea (0-0, -.–)
SNY

The Mets are still looking for their first win of 2024 tonight as they welcome the Tigers to Citi Field. The Brewers swept the Mets on Opening Weekend. Overall, it looked like the Mets were just slightly off. Friday they struck out a ton and had loud/hard-hit outs. Saturday the Mets showed fight and clawed back, but the pitching put them too deep in the hole. Yesterday was more like Friday – hard-hit outs and missed chances.

The Brewers have had the Mets number over the last couple of seasons, and maybe the Mets just need to face a team not from Wisconsin – in comes the Detroit Tigers! The Tigers had the opposite weekend of the Mets as they swept their first three games against the Chicago White Sox.

New week, new month, new opponent, let’s go!

Mets Lineup

1. Brandon Nimmo LF
2. Francisco Lindor SS
3. Pete Alonso 1B
4. Francisco Alvarez, C
5. DJ Stewart, DH
6. Starling Marte RF
7. Brett Baty 3B
8. Harrison Bader CF
9. Joey Wendle, 2B

Sean Manaea makes his Mets debut tonight. Last season, he pitched in 37 games, including ten starts where he totaled 117 2/3 innings with a 4.44 ERA, 3.90 FIP, 1.241 WHIP and a 95 ERA+. Manaea’s season took off last year in late July. From July 29th to the end of the season, he pitched in 14 games (51 2/3 innings) with a 2.61 ERA. He faced the Tigers near the start of the season and allowed two runs from four hits over 3 1/3 innings while striking out four. The Tigers have the following career numbers against him:

• Javier Báez 2-5, 2B, BB, 2 K
• Mark Canha 0-5
• Riley Greene 2-5, 3B, K
• Andy Ibáñez  1-5
• Carson Kelly 2-18, 2B, HR, BB, 4 K
• Jake Rogers 0-1
• Spencer Torkelson 0-1, K
• Gio Urshela 1-8, HR, BB, 3 K
• Matt Vierling 1-2

Opposing Lineup

1. Matt Vierling, CF
2. Andy Ibáñez, 2B
3. Spencer Torkelson, 1B
4. Riley Greene,RF
5. Mark Canha, LF
6. Jake Rogers, DH
7. Gio Urshela, 3B

The Mets bats will look to establish some consistency in 2024 against Reese Olson. In his first season last year, Olson pitched in 21 games, making 18 starts with 103 2/3 innings of work with a 3.99 ERA, 4.01 FIP, 1.119 WHIP and 111 ERA+. Reese Olson threw a mid-90s fastball about half the time last year and relied on his slider the most as his secondary pitch. About 20% of the time last season, he would also toss a changeup and a curve. The only person on the Mets roster to face him in a major league game is Joey Wendle (0-for-3).

Game Notes

The Mets’ 0-3 start is their worst start since the 2014 season.

Manager Carlos Mendoza returns to the dugout today after serving his one-game suspension for the wild pitch Yohan Ramírez threw behind Rhys Hoskins on Saturday.

Following an early exit from Sunday’s game, the Mets put RHP Tylor Megill on the IL with a right shoulder strain and recalled RHP Reed Garrett from Syracuse.

Three Things To Watch For

1. Francisco Alvarez is off to a hot start. Over three games this season Alvarez is 5-for-10 with a double and a homer. He’s leading the Mets in hits (Alonso has four, Marte three, Baty two, everyone else has one or zero) and has been the most consistent hitter for the Mets this season. Let’s keep this going into week two!
2. Have to get the Mets core players going. Pete Alonso and Francisco Alvarez are carrying the Mets offense right now. Francisco Lindor, Jeff McNeil and Brandon Nimmo combined are 3-for-36 with no extra-base hits. Nimmo, uncharacteristically, has zero walks and five strikeouts already. If two of these three batters can turn it around tonight, it will be a much happier night in Queens.
3. Watch out for these Tigers. The Detroit Tigers have a lot of young talent on their roster in Colt Keith, Spencer Torkelson, Riley Greene and Park Meadows. The AL Central is fairly open this year, and if you type “AL Central Predictions” into Google, most baseball pundits are predicting the Guardians and Twins to take the crown. If the young hitters on the Tigers take the next step, the Tigers could end up surprising a lot of people. Hopefully, that doesn’t happen this week though.

Let’s go Mets!

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