After losing the first two games of a series for the first time this season, the Braves didn’t even get a chance to salvage a game from their White Sox series on Thursday, with the final game postponed to August due to inclement weather.
One could make a case for that being a positive (chance to rest, reset) or a negative (dwelling on it). We’ll probably get an idea of which way that will go when the Braves open a series at the New York Mets Friday night, finally playing their last NL East foe nearly 70 games into the season.
While the Phillies seem to have figured it out after their stunning early struggles, the Mets have…not. They’re last in the division at 30-38, 15 games back of the Braves. They had their first winning month of the season in May (16-12) but are now 4-5 in June after losing two of three to the St. Louis Cardinals earlier this week.
Juan Soto (.277/.369/.537 with 14 homers) is producing. But Francisco Lindor remains on the injured list with a calf strain and backup plan Bo Bichette (.227/.277/.330) has not lived up to his three-year, $126 million contract.
The team is 31st out of 32 major league teams in batting average (.228) and slugging percentage (.367) and tied for last in on-base percentage (.291).
It’ll be up to Spencer Strider (4-1, 4.00 ERA) to set the tone against the New York lineup. Martín Pérez was supposed to start Thursday and originally slated for Friday, but has since been moved to Saturday.
Strider has been quite consistent in what he delivers of late on the mound for the Braves. In each of his last three starts, he’s thrown exactly five innings and allowed exactly three earned runs. The strikeouts were down in his last start against Pittsburgh, though, as he had a season-low three.
Strider’s Statcast profile is an interesting mix of extremes. The xERA, xBA are very good. The barrel and groundball percentages are quite bad.
Strider has a career 6-2 record against the Mets with a 6.11 ERA in 11 career appearances (nine starts). That ERA is certainly inflated by a pair of starts where he allowed eight earned runs in four innings, the latter of which was his most recent start against New York last August. He does also have four starts of five-plus innings and three or fewer runs against the Mets.
New York’s pitching staff has not been the main problem this season, ranking eighth in ERA (3.88), 10th in hits allowed (533) and tied for fifth in strikeouts (617).
For the series opener, the Mets turn to Nolan McLean (3-4, 3.98) on the mound. After the rookie hit a speedbump in mid-May, allowing 13 earned runs over nine innings across consecutive starts against the Nationals and Reds, he appears to have rediscovered his form. He’s allowed two runs on five hits across 11 innings in his last two starts against the Marlins and Padres.
With 82 strikeouts to 27 walks, McLean has been a rock for the Mets this season, posting the best ERA on the team among pitchers with 10-plus starts.
The Braves saw his ability first-hand when he made his second career start against Atlanta last August, allowing two runs on four hits over seven innings.
Game Date/Time: Friday, June 12, 7:15 p.m. EDT
Location: Citi Field, Queens, NY
Radio: 680 AM / 93.7 FM The Fan
