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Pirates, Mets close series
June 16, 2016
PITTSBURGH PIRATES (33-32) at NEW YORK METS (35-29)
First pitch: Thursday, 7:10 p.m. ET
Sportsbook.ag Line: Pittsburgh +117, New York -127, Total: 7.5
Pittsburgh comes to New York to play the rubber match of a three game set Thursday night.
The Mets are looking to build off of their 11-2 victory last night, and win the series versus the Pirates. New York got production up and down the lineup, as seven Mets had multi-hit nights. They did get bad news today, finding out that veteran 3B David Wright (.226, 7 HR, 14 RBI) will need to undergo surgery on his neck that will likely sideline him for the rest of the season.
Pittsburgh, on the other hand, is coming into the game on a cold streak. The team is 1-6 in its past seven games, though the one win came against the Mets in the first game of the series on Tuesday. Even though the Pirates are struggling as of late, they 13-5 versus the Mets over the past three seasons and 3-2 in this year’s season series.
Tonight’s pitching matchup will feature Pittsburgh’s RHP Juan Nicasio (5-5, 5.34 ERA, 60 K) versus New York’s 43-year old RHP Bartolo Colon (5-3, 3.08, 48 K). Its worth noting that over the last three starts for each pitcher, the games went UNDER with a combined record of 5-1.
Pittsburgh’s struggles of late have come from the team’s inability to hit. Over the last month, the Pirates are only hitting .219 as a team and are ranked 28th in runs-scored (48). The lack of hitting is hurting the team more than it might hurt other teams because hitting has been the aspect of the Pirates’ game that has been an asset all season. Even with this rough patch, over the entire season they are ninth in the league in runs-scored (306) and fifth in batting average as a team (.269).
The only hitter on the team that has consistently put up hits is OF Starling Marte (.332, 6 HR, 25 RBI), who is hitting .362 with two HRs and six RBIs this month. Unfortunately for the Pirates, Marte’s status is in question for the game tonight after leaving last night’s game with an eye injury.
Pittsburgh will hope to get production out of 3B David Freese (.298, 5 HR, 24 RBI), who has gone 2-for-3 against Colon in his career.
The Pirates’ starter tonight, Juan Nicasio, has been inconsistent all season. In his last three starts, he is 1-1 with a 4.59 ERA. Those statistics include his last outing, which was against the Mets where he pitched well, lasting five innings and only allowed one run. This game follows the trend of him pitching well against the Mets going 3-0 with a 2.65 ERA in his career. Nicasio was used in an unconventional way his last time on the mound because he came out of the bullpen in the 12th inning of a game where the starter only threw two innings and the entire bullpen had to be used. This experiment coming out of the bullpen didn’t go well; he allowed six runs on four hits and earned a loss in just one inning of work. Pittsburgh will hope that this one bad inning won’t hurt his confidence and carry over into tonight’s game.
The Mets will have Bartolo Colon on the mound tonight and he is on a roll as of late. Over his last three starts, he is 1-0 with a 2.00 ERA and the team has won two out of the three games. In fact, Colon has not allowed more than two runs in any of his starts since May 18th.
Bartolo has pitched well in his career against Pittsburgh, going 4-2 with a 1.88 ERA. His last start versus Pittsburgh was in August of last year and he earned a loss, but only gave up one run. The key for the Mets to win games is good pitching. Their entire staff has an impressive 3.12 ERA, which ranks 2nd in the league.
The Mets’ pitchers have had to do it all because they don’t get much run-support, having the 28th ranked offense in runs-scored (240). The Mets will look to CF Yoenis Cespedes (.286, 16 HR, 40 RBI) to have a big night, building off of his 3-for-4 night on Wednesday. They will also look to 3B Wilmer Flores (.250, 2 HR, 9 RBI) to stay hot since he has been hitting .375 with one HR and seven RBIs this month.
June 16, 2016
PITTSBURGH PIRATES (33-32) at NEW YORK METS (35-29)
First pitch: Thursday, 7:10 p.m. ET
Sportsbook.ag Line: Pittsburgh +117, New York -127, Total: 7.5
Pittsburgh comes to New York to play the rubber match of a three game set Thursday night.
The Mets are looking to build off of their 11-2 victory last night, and win the series versus the Pirates. New York got production up and down the lineup, as seven Mets had multi-hit nights. They did get bad news today, finding out that veteran 3B David Wright (.226, 7 HR, 14 RBI) will need to undergo surgery on his neck that will likely sideline him for the rest of the season.
Pittsburgh, on the other hand, is coming into the game on a cold streak. The team is 1-6 in its past seven games, though the one win came against the Mets in the first game of the series on Tuesday. Even though the Pirates are struggling as of late, they 13-5 versus the Mets over the past three seasons and 3-2 in this year’s season series.
Tonight’s pitching matchup will feature Pittsburgh’s RHP Juan Nicasio (5-5, 5.34 ERA, 60 K) versus New York’s 43-year old RHP Bartolo Colon (5-3, 3.08, 48 K). Its worth noting that over the last three starts for each pitcher, the games went UNDER with a combined record of 5-1.
Pittsburgh’s struggles of late have come from the team’s inability to hit. Over the last month, the Pirates are only hitting .219 as a team and are ranked 28th in runs-scored (48). The lack of hitting is hurting the team more than it might hurt other teams because hitting has been the aspect of the Pirates’ game that has been an asset all season. Even with this rough patch, over the entire season they are ninth in the league in runs-scored (306) and fifth in batting average as a team (.269).
The only hitter on the team that has consistently put up hits is OF Starling Marte (.332, 6 HR, 25 RBI), who is hitting .362 with two HRs and six RBIs this month. Unfortunately for the Pirates, Marte’s status is in question for the game tonight after leaving last night’s game with an eye injury.
Pittsburgh will hope to get production out of 3B David Freese (.298, 5 HR, 24 RBI), who has gone 2-for-3 against Colon in his career.
The Pirates’ starter tonight, Juan Nicasio, has been inconsistent all season. In his last three starts, he is 1-1 with a 4.59 ERA. Those statistics include his last outing, which was against the Mets where he pitched well, lasting five innings and only allowed one run. This game follows the trend of him pitching well against the Mets going 3-0 with a 2.65 ERA in his career. Nicasio was used in an unconventional way his last time on the mound because he came out of the bullpen in the 12th inning of a game where the starter only threw two innings and the entire bullpen had to be used. This experiment coming out of the bullpen didn’t go well; he allowed six runs on four hits and earned a loss in just one inning of work. Pittsburgh will hope that this one bad inning won’t hurt his confidence and carry over into tonight’s game.
The Mets will have Bartolo Colon on the mound tonight and he is on a roll as of late. Over his last three starts, he is 1-0 with a 2.00 ERA and the team has won two out of the three games. In fact, Colon has not allowed more than two runs in any of his starts since May 18th.
Bartolo has pitched well in his career against Pittsburgh, going 4-2 with a 1.88 ERA. His last start versus Pittsburgh was in August of last year and he earned a loss, but only gave up one run. The key for the Mets to win games is good pitching. Their entire staff has an impressive 3.12 ERA, which ranks 2nd in the league.
The Mets’ pitchers have had to do it all because they don’t get much run-support, having the 28th ranked offense in runs-scored (240). The Mets will look to CF Yoenis Cespedes (.286, 16 HR, 40 RBI) to have a big night, building off of his 3-for-4 night on Wednesday. They will also look to 3B Wilmer Flores (.250, 2 HR, 9 RBI) to stay hot since he has been hitting .375 with one HR and seven RBIs this month.
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