NEW YORK METS NOTES:
METSCELLANEOUS: The Mets were swept in a doubleheader by the Tigers yesterday…Today, the Mets conclude a brief three-game road trip to Detroit…New York has dropped eight of their last 10 games… Tomorrow, the Mets return home for three games against the Rockies.
HOW SWEEP IT ISN’T: The Mets are looking to avoid their second sweep of the season…New York was swept by the Brewers in a three-game series in Milwaukee earlier this year…The Mets have been swept by the Tigers twice before in franchise history…From June 30-July 2, 1997 at Tiger Stadium and from August 23-25, 2013 at Citi Field.
MAY THE FOURTH BE WITH YOU: Today, Justin Verlander will come off the Injured List and make his first start with the Mets…The 2022 AL Cy Young Award winner signed a two-year contract with the Mets on December 7, 2022…He was placed on the 15-Day Injured List on March 31 with a teres major strain…He made a rehab start on April 28, tossing 4.2 scoreless innings and allowing two hits and one walk with six strikeouts for Double-A Binghamton…Verlander threw 69 pitches, 52 for strikes.
AGE IS JUSTIN NUMBER: At 40 years and 73 days, Verlander will become the oldest pitcher to debut for the Mets since Rich Hill, who debuted with the club at 41 years and 136 days on July 25, 2021… He will be the 10th player to start a game for the Mets at age 40 or older, joining Hill, Bartolo Colon, Tom Glavine, Orlando Hernández, Orel Hershiser, Warren Spahn, Frank Tanana, Miguel Batista and David Cone.
HELLO, OLD FRIENDS: Today, Verlander will make his fifth career start against the Tigers, the franchise that drafted him with the second overall pick in the 2004 First-Year Player Draft out of Old Dominion University…Threw a complete game in his last outing against Detroit, but was defeated by the Tigers in a 2-1 Astros setback on August 21, 2019 as he allowed two solo home runs and struck out 11…Verlander spent 13 years in Detroit and went 183-114 with a 3.24 ERA (975 ER/2511.0 IP) in 380 career starts with the Tigers…The righthander ranks second in Tigers history in strikeouts (2,373), second in opponent’s average (.236), second in quality starts (248), fifth in starts and seventh in wins…Through his first four career starts against his former team, Verlander is 2-2 with a 3.10 ERA (10 ER/29.0 IP) and has pitched at least 6.0 innings in each of those starts…Three of those starts have been double-digit strikeout games.
Rank Player Strikeouts
- Greg Maddux 3,371
- Phil Niekro 3,342
- Max Scherzer 3,213
- Justin Verlander 3,198
- Fergie Jenkins 3192
Rank Player Strikeouts
- Pedro Martinez 3,154
- Bob Gibson 3,117
- Curt Schilling 3,116
- CC Sabathia 3,093
- John Smoltz 3,084
MOST STRIKEOUTS, ALL-TIME (NO. 10-19)
GREETINGS FROM MICHIGAN!: The Mets face the Tigers for the first time since 2019…The Mets will play at Comerica Park for the first time since a three-game series from August 5-7, 2016…Overall, the Mets are 11-13 against the Tigers including a 4-8 record in Detroit and a 4-5 record in Comerica Park…New York played one series at Tiger Stadium…They were swept in a three-game set from June 30-July 2, 1997.
THEY’RE OUT OF MY LEAGUE: The new schedule format has New York playing a total of 43 Interleague games in 2023, more than double their previous high for a single season (20)…The Mets are 3-2 against the American League this year…Overall, New York owns a 238- 229 record in Interleague play…The team’s .510 winning percentage is the second-best among National League clubs.
INTERLEAGUE PETE: Pete Alonso is 6-19 with four runs, a double, two home runs, two RBI and four walks in five-games against the American League this year…He batted .333/.410/.639 against AL opponents last season with 15 runs, four doubles, six home runs, 15 RBI and 10 walks…
His six home runs were tied for the sixth-most in the majors…Alonso has hit 31 home runs in Interleague Play since the 2019 season…His 31 home runs against the American League is a franchise record, and the most among any player in that time frame…Mike Piazza was the previous record holder with 28 Interleague home runs.
ALL THE MUCK THATS FIT TO PRINT: Congratulations to Zack Muckenhirn who made his major league debut in game two of the twinbill…The lefty tossed 1.2 scoreless innings and allowed only one hit…He became the first pitcher from the University of North Dakota to make their major league debut.
HERE’S THE CATCH: Francisco Alvarez is batting .286 (8-28) with three runs, a double, a home run, three RBI and a walk over his last 10 games…This comes after he hit .067 (1-15) in his first five games this season.
BRETT THE MET: Brett Baty had his on-base streak snapped at 10 games in the second game of the twinbill…Over the last 11 contests, Baty is batting .351 (13-37) with five runs, two doubles, two home runs, three RBI and three walks in that span…This comes after he went 1-8 in his first three games.
DOCTOR ROBERT-SON: David Robertson has appeared in 12 games and has allowed one run in 13.1 innings of work, good for a 0.68 ERA… He has allowed seven hits, three walks while striking out 18 in that span…He is holding left-handed hitters to a .120 (3-25) batting average this season…He has converted all six save opportunities he’s had this season…Overall, he has recorded 163 saves in his career…That is the seventh-most among active players.
JEFF McHITS: Over his last 16 games, Jeff McNeil is batting .368 (21- 57) with nine runs, two doubles, one triple, two home runs, five RBI, five walks, one steal with a .455 OBP and a .544 SLG…Since April 16, he has raised his batting average from .212 to .294 and his OBP from
.359 to .408…His .408 OBP is the 10th-best in the majors and seventh-highest in the National League.
MULTIPLICITY: McNeil has recorded nine multi-hit games this season…He has 172 multi-hit games in his career, which places him 19th on the Mets all-time list…He has 62 multi-hit games since the start of last season, which is the third-most during that span behind Freddie Freeman (68)and Bo Bichette (67).
ON THE ROAD AGAIN: New York will play their 20th road game today, tied for the most in the majors…New York is 10-9 on the road this season…They are 3-2-1 in road series in 2023.
GUESS WHO’S BACH?: Over his last 14 games, Daniel Vogelbach is 12-36 (.333) with three runs, three doubles, one home run, nine RBI, six walks with a .429 OBP and a .500 SLG…He has posted a .411 OBP in 23 games this season, which is leads the team.
JUSTIN VERLANDER RHP #35
2022 STATS W/HOUSTON: 18-4, 1.75 E R A
VERLANDER PITCH ARSENAL (2022)
Pitch Type Usage Rate vs. LHB vs. RHB Avg. Velocity
Four-Seam Fastball 50% 51% 49% 95.0 mph
Slider 28% 22% 35% 87.4 mph
Curveball 19% 23% 14% 79.0 mph
Changeup 2% 4% 1% 86.2 mph
METS DEBUT: Today, Justin Verlander will come off the Injured List and make his first start with the Mets…The 2022 AL Cy Young Award winner signed a two-year contract with the Mets on December 7, 2022…He was placed on the 15-Day Injured List on March 31 with a teres major strain…He made a rehab start on April 28, tossing 4.2 scoreless innings and allowing two hits and one walk with six strikeouts for Double-A Binghamton…Verlander threw 69 pitches, 52 for strikes.
AGE IS JUSTIN NUMBER: At 40 years and 73 days, Verlander will become the oldest pitcher to debut for the Mets since Rich Hill, who debuted with the club at 41 years and 136 days on July 25, 2021…He will be the 10th player to start a game for the Mets at age 40 or older, joining Hill, Bartolo Colon, Tom Glavine, Orlando Hernández, Orel Hershiser, Warren Spahn, Frank Tanana, Miguel Batista and David Cone.
HELLO, OLD FRIENDS: Today, Verlander will make his fifth career start against the Tigers, the franchise that drafted him with the second overall pick in the 2004 First-Year Player Draft out of Old Dominion University…Threw a complete game in his last outing against Detroit, but was defeated by the Tigers in a 2-1 Astros setback on August 21, 2019 as he allowed two solo home runs and struck out 11…Verlander spent 13 years in Detroit and went 183-114 with a 3.24 ERA (975 ER/2511.0 IP) in 380 career starts with the Tigers…The right-hander ranks second in Tigers history in strikeouts (2,373), second in opponent’s average (.236), second in quality starts (248), fifth in starts and seventh in wins…Through his first four career starts against his former team, Verlander is 2-2 with a 3.10 ERA (10 ER/29.0 IP) and has pitched at least 6.0 innings in each of those starts…Three of those starts have been double-digit strikeout games.
BACK IN THE MOTOR CITY: Verlander pitched for the Tigers from 2005-2017…He is the all-time leader in starts (189), wins (99), innings (1,263.2), strikeouts (1173) at Comerica Park… He has over twice as many starts, innings and strikeouts as the next-closest pitcher at the
venue…Has won both of his starts as a visitor at Comerica Park.
3K AND COUNTING: Entering the 2023 season, Verlander was 12th on the all-time strikeout list with 3,198 strikeouts, five ahead of teammate Max Scherzer…Scherzer has since passed Verlander, but the pair remain close, with just 15 separating the two…Entering last season, Verlander ranked 19th on the all-time with 3,013 career strikeouts, seven behind Scherzer… During the 2022 season, Verlander passed all-time greats John Smoltz, C.C Sabathia, Curt Schilling, Bob Gibson, Pedro Martinez and Fergie Jenkins…See below for a chart of the No. 10-19 strikeout pitchers of all-time:
DETROIT TIGERS NOTES:
No release available.
