NEW YORK METS NOTES:
METSCELLANEOUS: The Mets defeated the Pirates, 5-1, on Saturday…Today, the Mets finish their six-game road trip (1- 4) to Atlanta (0-3) and Pittsburgh (1-1)…The Mets are 3-3 in rubber games…New York is seeking their ninth series victory of the season and their fourth on the road…Following this series, the Mets are off on Monday before the start of a six-day, five-game homestand against the Yankees (two games) and Cardinals (three games).
AW SNAP: New York snapped their season-long losing streak at seven games yesterday…It was their longest losing streak since they dropped seven straight was in 2019, from June 23-29.
STEAL THIS BASE: The Mets stole two bases yesterday…As a team, the Mets have stole 20 consecutive bases without being caught…The last time a Mets player was thrown out attempting a stolen base was on May 10 (Francisco Lindor at second)…The Mets are first in the major leagues with an 88.5% stolen base success rate this season…Starling Marte has swiped 18 bags this year, tied for sixth in the majors and
tied for third in the National League…His 332 career stolen bases rank second among active players…Elvis Andrus is the active leader with 340 steals.
C IS FOR COOKIE: Carlos Carrasco is set to make his eighth start of the season today…He is 2-2 with a 5.94 ERA (24 ER/36.1 IP)…Over his last three starts, Carrasco is 2-0 with a 3.06 ERA (6 ER/17.2 IP) with five walks and 12 strikeouts…Today will mark his fifth career start against Pirates…In his previous four starts, Carrasco is 2-0 with a 2.78 ERA (7 ER/22.2 IP) with nine walks and 28 punchouts.
DR. ROBERTSON: David Robertson has posted a 2-1 record with a 1.91 ERA (6 ER/28.1 IP) in 25 appearances this season… He has walked seven, while striking out 37…He ranks tied for 10th in the NL in ERA among relievers and is tied for 12th with 37 punchouts.
PHAM-TASTIC: Tommy Pham is on a four-game hitting streak, batting .333 (5-15) with four runs, three doubles, one home run, one walk, six RBI with a .353 OBP, a .733 SLG and a 1.086 OPS in that span…Over his last 15 games, Pham is batting .341 (14-41) with eight runs, five doubles, one triple, three home runs, 13 RBI with a .404 OBP and a .732 SLG.
TAKE IT TO THE BANK: The Mets play at PNC Park for the first time this year…New York went 2-1 at the yard in 2022… Eduardo Escobar has hit .500 (23-46) with 11 runs, five doubles, one triple, two home runs, 10 RBI and four walks in 13 career games a the ballpark…He has safely hit in 10 of his 13 games in Pittsburgh…Omar Narváez has hit .351 (26-74) with 14 runs, four doubles, three home runs, 14 RBI with 11 walks
and a .435 OBP and a.527 SLG in 24 games in Pittsburgh.
A STARLING IS BORN: Over his last 30 games, Starling Marte is batting .305 (32-105) with 15 runs, one double, one triple, two home runs, 10 RBI, three walks with a .342 OBP…He has safely reached base in 11 of his last 13 games…He has safely hit in seven of his last eight games…Marte has played 479 career games at the ballpark and is a .290/.348/.445 career hitter with 46 home runs and 204 RBI.
HIP, HIP, HOME RUN: The Mets have homered in six straight games, blasting 13 home runs in that…The Mets have homered in 21 of their last 23 games, socking 37 bombs in that span… The Mets rank fifth in the National League with 78 blasts this season.
WE FOUND NIMMO: Brandon Nimmo is batting .336 (50-149) with 21 runs, eight doubles, three triples, three home runs, 22 RBI, 21 walks with a .417 OBP and .490 SLG in 38 games on the road this season…His .336 road average ranks fifth in the majors…Nimmo owns a career .399 OBP on the road…That is the fourth-highest mark in the majors since the Wyoming native entered the league in 2016.
ON THE ROAD AGAIN: New York has played 38 games on the road this year, the most in the majors…New York is 16-22 with a 5.22 ERA away from Citi Field in 2023…The team’s 313 strikeouts on the road are the second-most in the majors.
THE YOUNG AND THE RESTLESS: Francisco Alvarez as hit 12 home runs this season…That is the third-most by a rookie in the majors and the second-most in the National League…10 of his home runs have come as a catcher…Only two rookie catchers in Mets history have had more homers in a season… Travis d’Arnaud (13) holds the club mark for home runs by a rookie catcher in 2014…Jason Phillips hit 11 as a rookie in 2003…Alvarez’s 13 career homers (one last year) before turning 22 years old are the most by a catcher since Iván Rodríguez had 21 from 1991-1993.
COME AT THE KING, BEST NOT MISS: Omar Narváez has reached base safely in seven of his eighth games this season, batting .273 (6-22) with three runs, two RBI and two walks.
FIRST IS THE WORST: The Mets have been outscored 49-14 in the first inning this year.
FIRST IS THE BEST: The Mets are 18-6 (.750) when scoring first this season…On the other hand, the Mets are 13-28 (.317) when their opponent scores first.
IF YOU START ME OFF: New York is 17-1 when their starter goes at least 6.0 innings…The Mets are still 7-0 when the starter goes at least 7.0 innings.
RISPY BUSINESS: The Mets are hitting .245 (122-497) with runners in scoring position, ranking 11th in the NL and 21st in the majors this year…Last season, New York batted .269 (371- 1,378), good for third in the NL and fourth in the majors.
STARTING PITCHER – CARLOS CARRASCO RHP #59
2023 STATS: 2-2, 5.94 ER A
CARRASCO’S PITCH ARSENAL
Pitch Type Usage Rate vs. LHB vs. RHB Avg. Velocity
Four-Seam Fastball 33.5% 40.7% 27.3% 92.2 mph
Changeup 28.8% 35.4% 23.0% 87.1 mph
Slider 17.6% 4.6% 28.8% 84.2 mph
Sinker 10.4% 7.0% 13.3% 91.1 mph
Curveball 9.8% 12.3% 7.6% 80.0 mph
LAST TIME OUT: Threw 5.0+ innings against the Braves at Truist Park…Allowed four earned runs on six hits and two walks…Fanned four batters in a 6-4 Mets loss.
ON A TREASURE HUNT: Carrasco will face Pittsburgh for the fifth time in his career and for just the second time at PNC Park…In his last start against the Pirates on September 15, 2022, he earned the win after allowing one earned run in 6.0 innings on four hits and two walks while striking out 11 batters at Citi Field… Throughout his career against the Pirates, Carrasco has pitched to a 2.78 ERA (7 ER/22.2 IP) and holds a 2-0 record, with both wins coming when pitching at home…Has a 1.96 ERA (4 ER/18.1 IP) when facing Pittsburgh at home compared to a 6.23 ERA (3 ER/4.1 IP) at PNC Park….Has held Pittsburgh batters to a .193 average throughout his career.
COOKIE’S COMEBACK: In his starts on May 25 and May 31 against Chicago-NL and Philadelphia, respectively, Carrasco allowed just two runs over 12.2 innings compared to 18 runs allowed across the 18.2 innings he threw in his first four starts of the season…In those 12.2 innings, Carrasco fanned eight batters, which equals the total strikeouts he tallied in his first three starts of the year.
PITTSBURGH PIRATES NOTES:
THE PIRATES: Have lost three of their last four games…Are 5-3 on their homestand against the Cardinals (3-0), A’s (1-2) and Mets (1-1)…Have had four separate winning streaks of at least four games this season, including a season-high seven-game winning streak from 4/17-23…Returned to first place following Friday’s win for the second time this month (also following the team’s win Monday vs. Oakland)…Entered the homestand 0.5 game behind Milwaukee in the NL Central, but are one percentage point (.524 to .523) ahead of the Brewers for first place coming into today.
CHASING 2000: Andrew McCutchen comes into today just one hit shy of 2000 in his career (his first career hit came in his big league debut against Mike Pelfrey of the Mets on June 4, 2009)…McCutchen has recorded 1514 of his 1999 hits with the Pirates…McCutchen’s 1514 hits with Pittsburgh ranks 12th in team history…Hall-of-Famer Roberto Clemente is first with 3000 while Tommy Leach is 11th (1603).
KEEPING UP WITH CUTCH’S MILESTONES: Andrew McCutchen is just one double shy of 400 in his career (his next double will also be his 300th as a Pirate)…McCutchen ranks seventh all-time in Pirates history in doubles (Hall-of-Famer Pie Traynor is sixth with 371)…Each of the six Pirates with at least 300 doubles are in the Hall-of-Fame.
GETTING ON: Andrew McCutchen has produced a .402 on-base percentage since May 14 when he batted leadoff for the first time this season (he has led off in 16 of those 22 games since)…Since May 14, McCutchen’s .402 OBP ranks ninth in the National League and 12th in MLB…McCutchen is also tied for the fourth-most walks (16) in that time… Philadelphia’s Kyle Schwarber leads the way with 26 in that time.
HITTIN’ THE ROAD: Tuesday night the Pirates will begin a stretch that has the team playing 10 of its next 13 games on the road…Pittsburgh will face the Cubs in three straight night games before closing out the trip with three games next weekend at Milwaukee…The Bucs will then return to Pittsburgh for a three-game homestand against the Cubs from June 19-21 before returning to the road for a four-game series at Miami from June 22-25.
ENDY IN INDY: Indianapolis’ Endy Rodriguez extended his hitting streak to 10 games last night after going 1-for-5 vs. Omaha…Rodriguez is hitting .372 (16-for-43) with two doubles, a triple, six RBI and .891 OPS during the 10-game stretch, which is tied for the fourth-longest active streak in the International League (teammate Miguel Andujar has the longest active streak in the league at 14 games).
ABOUT TODAY’S STARTER: Mitch Keller gets the start this afternoon in the finale of this series against the Mets…Keller had his four-game winning streak come to an end in his last outing Tuesday night against Oakland after allowing a season-high tying five runs in 5.1 innings…Keller also allowed five runs on May 3 at Tampa Bay before bouncing back to toss his first career shutout in his next start on May 8 against Colorado here at PNC Park.
AND THE WHIFF: Mitch Keller ranks fourth among all pitchers in MLB with 94 strikeouts, trailing Atlanta’s Spencer Strider (121), Toronto’s Kevin Gausman (113) and Shohei Ohtani of the Angels (102)…The 27-year-old righthander became the first pitcher in club history to amass 90-plus strikeouts prior to June 1…Prior to Keller, the previous high was 89, done by A.J. Burnett in 2013 (89).
HEATING UP IN JUNE: Ke’Bryan Hayes comes into today leading all of MLB with a .515 average this month among players with at least 30 plate appearances (Miami’s Luis Arraez ranks second with a .514 average)…Hayes’ 28 total bases this month are also tied for the second-most in MLB with Shohei Ohtani…San Diego’s Fernando Tatis Jr. leads MLB with 29 total bases so far this month.
CARLOS SANTANA’S HITS: Carlos Santana connected for his fourth homer of the year on Friday, which was also the 282nd of his career…Santana’s 282 home runs are the most among all active switch hitters…Cleveland’s Jose Ramirez ranks second with 202, while Francisco Lindor of the Mets is third (196).
STARTING PITCHER – 23 – RHP MITCH KELLER
MITCH KELLER: The 27-year-old righthander will make his 14th start of the season this afternoon…He allowed five runs in 5.1 innings while losing an 11-2 decision against Oakland in his last start Tuesday night, snapping his four-game winning streak.
VS. NEW YORK: 1-1 in two career starts (both in 2022)…He scattered five hits over 6.0 scoreless innings while winning an 8-2 decision against Taijuan Walker on 9/6/22 at PNC Park and lost a 4-3 decision (6.0ip/3r) against Walker on 9/16 at Citi Field.
