Good Morning,
The Mets’ offensive woes continued, as they lost 4-3 in ten innings and were swept by the Cubs. We’ll discuss the main bright spot of the game — the Mets debut of reliever Sean Reid-Foley — and preview tonight’s home series against the Nationals.
But first, let’s recap last night’s painful action.
⚾️ IN SHORT: After coming back from an early 3-0 deficit, and receiving a shot in the arm from RHP Sean Reid-Foley during his Mets debut, the Amazins couldn’t get a clutch hit late, and Edwin Díaz surrendered the game-winning hit to Jason Heyward in the 10th inning (during his second inning of work) to give the Cubs a 4-3 victory, and series sweep. [Box Score]
🔑 KEY MOMENT: In the top of the 10th, Kevin Pillar started on second base and advanced to third on a wild pitch, giving the Mets an opportunity to score the go-ahead run on a simple, sacrifice fly. But, Jeff McNeil struck out. And after Luis Guillorme and Francisco Lindor drew walks, Dominic Smith promptly did the one thing that could end the inning: grounding into a double play.
3 TAKEAWAYS
❶ STRONG RELIEF: After starter Joey Lucchesi (3 IP, 2 H, 3 ER, 5 SO, 2 BB) only lasted three innings, the Mets were forced to rely on their bullpen early, and it didn’t disappoint, shutting down the Cubs until the 10th inning. Right-hander Sean Reid-Foley made his debut and looked awesome, squatting like a wrestler and flashing some serious tattoos, en route to striking out four in three perfect frames (more on this in a bit). Trevor May pitched a scoreless seventh. And Aaron Loup and Miguel Castro worked together to somehow escape the 8th unharmed after Loup gave up a lead-off triple to former Met Jake Marisnick.
❷ IMPROVEMENT: Responding to their dreadful performance on Wednesday, the Mets looked better on defense (for the most part). In the 1st inning, Luis Guillorme made a highlight-reel play on a sharp liner, and Pete Alonso followed that up with his own diving grab. Manager Luis Rojas starter Guillorme at third base in place of J.D. Davis, who later connected on a game-tying, pinch-hit double.
❸ HARD HIT: For the second consecutive night, Pete Alonso hit a 2-run home run to left field; this one a little less far than the bomb he hit two days ago. Don’t let his .231 batting average fool you, the slugger is hitting everything with authority, barreling an amazing 22.2% of the balls he has put in play this season.
🧑🏫 SOUND SMART: James McCann threw out another baserunner in a key spot, although this one should probably be credited to the heads-up tag play by Jeff McNeil who caught Kris Bryant coming off the bag in the 9th. But officially count it for McCann, giving him an impressive 4 caught base-stealers this season, while the Mets had 8 all last season.
⏭ NEXT UP: Washington Nationals
🍎 The Mets return home tonight just when they need it most, and will have the man on the mound they need most: Jacob deGrom (1-1, 0.45 ERA). Jake will look to continue his dominance of major league hitters, following three starts in which he’s compiled 35 strikeouts against 3 walks over 20 innings of work.
🆚 In a matchup that should favor the Mets, deGrom will face 28-year old right-hander Erick Fedde (1-1, 5.56 ERA). The Nats had Thursday off following their series against the Cardinals in which they won 2 of 3 and improved their season record to 7-9.
☺️ AVOIDANCE: The Amazins will not have to face Nationals stars Juan Soto (injury), Max Scherzer (will miss his rotation spot) or Stephen Strasburg (injury) in their series against Washington.
🍎 BULLPEN REPORT: The Mets will need length from deGrom tonight so they can refresh the bullpen after a heavy workload in Chicago and no off-day heading into the weekend.
📝 ROSTER MOVES: Brandon Nimmo was held out of the lineup with a sore hip, but still received a pinch-hit opportunity. And to make room for Sean Reid-Foley, the Mets optioned side-winder Trevor Hildenberger to their alternate site on Thursday.
💩 UNAPPETIZING: After the game, Pete Alonso told reporters that getting swept was like “eating a sh*t sandwich.”
🍎 HOME RUN DERBY: Earlier in the day, Alonso said he is “all in” for the Home Run Derby in Colorado this summer, “I’m ready. If I get invited, I’d love to do it. I’d love to defend my title.” Speaking of home runs, when asked about the Statcast reading on his “429-foot” bomb from Wednesday, Alonso responded, “I think the computers are wrong.”
🦆 RISP: The Mets continued a season-long struggle with runners in scoring position, going 1-8 last night with ducks on the pond. They were 3-20 for the series.
🥵 CAUGHT: James McCann’s fourth caught base stealer in 12 games this season is the same number he had last year in 30 games.
📉 LEANING ON PITCHING: The Mets are 6-2 when their starter lasts at least 6 innings. When he doesn’t, their record falls to 1-5.
⬇️ STANDING DOWN: The Mets fell to .500 (7-7), and no longer have sole possession of first place.
Do the Mets have something in Sean Reid-Foley?
🧓 by Jeffrey Bellone
Right-handed reliever Sean Reid-Foley introduced himself to Mets fans last night with a meme:
But after having fun with his Craig Kimbrel-Meets-A-Sumo-Wrestler set-up, Mets fans were quickly treated to an impressive debut that saw the 25-year-old acquired from the Blue Jays in the Steven Matz deal pitch three perfect innings, striking out 4 Cubbies.
While it’s only one game and against a Chicago team that has the third highest strikeout rate in the majors, it was still an eye-opening performance from the right-hander, considering the biggest question mark surrounding him has been whether he can command his pitches. From the time he was a teenager in Toronto’s system and even as he rose up to become a Top-10 prospect in the organization, he struggled to keep his walk rate down. In his last full minor league season in 2019, he walked over 15% of the batters he faced.
But last night, we didn’t see any of that. Instead, he pumped 94 MPH fastballs up in the zone and got 7 whiffs on 30 offerings, which is tied for the third most he has ever received in a major league game, and good for his second highest swinging strike rate. Besides his fastball, he also commanded his slider, earning three called strikes and inducing weak contact on the lone ball put in play, showcasing full control of his two main pitches.
Reid-Foley has transformed the movement on his pitches by progressively changing his vertical release point, resulting in more rise on his fastball and a slightly tighter break on his slider. We saw that trend continue.
But more than raw movement, he has found success by creating deception with his fastball similar to Edwin Díaz and Jacob deGrom. As Jacob Resnick points out in the excellent thread below, Reid-Foley’s flat vertical approach makes batters believe the pitch will cross the plate at a different angle than it actually does.
While we are still learning about the impacts of vertical approach angle, initial research suggests that matching a flatter fastball with a higher location (so a fastball up in the zone like we saw last night) tends to produce favorable swinging strike results.
BOTTOM LINE: From the time he stepped on the mound and introduced his strange set-up to the way he mowed through the Cubs’ lineup, it was a unique debut for the young pitcher, one that Mets fans hope is a sign of things to come. Ultimately, we will need to see whether he can continue to command his pitches, especially when he’s not facing a team like the Cubs that misses everything.
⚾️ Future Hall of Famer Mike Trout left last night’s Angels game against the Astros with a left elbow contusion. No word yet on his prognosis.
⚾️ Former MVP Mookie Betts returned to the Dodgers lineup last night after getting hit in the forearm on Monday.
⚾️ Marlins ace Sixto Sanchez has extended his throwing to 60 feet and is hoping to return to action this summer after being shut down due to right shoulder inflammation:
⚾️ Toronto outfielder George Springer is still not a Met, but could make his 2021 debut this weekend after missing the first few weeks to an oblique and quad injury.
🔗 Ex-Padre on wrong side of Tom Seaver history is glad Jacob deGrom fell short, by Ken Davidoff, NY Post: “As Jacob deGrom racked up strikeout after strikeout, Ferrara admitted, he rooted for a Colorado hitter to at least hit a weak grounder or something. Anything but another K that would tie or break the major-league record of 10 in a row established by the great Tom Seaver 51 years ago Thursday. That record was set on April 22, 1970, 51 years ago Thursday, when Seaver fanned Ferrara to end the game with panache and dominance.”
🔗 What Happened To MLB’s 2020 Opt-Outs? by Neil Paine, FiveThirtyEight: “The biggest gains from before 2020, however, belong to a couple of pitchers: Kopech (who has a stellar 1.69 ERA so far in his return from injury) and Mets starter Marcus Stroman. Stroman pitched very well (3.22 ERA) for Toronto and New York in 2019 but opted out in August 2020 over the “uncertainties” of playing in a pandemic. Returning for 2021, Stroman has been nothing short of superhuman in three starts thus far, allowing just two runs in 20 innings with improved fastball velocity.”
And... we leave you with this visual of a most distinguished baseball spectator last night:
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