The Mets and Blue Jays take their four-game home-and-home series to the Rogers Centre in Toronto tonight at 7:07 PM.
Here is tonight’s starting lineup for New York:
Curtis Granderson – RF
Juan Lagares – CF
Lucas Duda – 1B
Michael Cuddyer – DH
Travis d’Arnaud – C
Wilmer Flores – SS
Darrell Ceciliani – LF
Ruben Tejada – 3B
Dilson Herrera – 2B
Jonathon Niese – LHP
Here is tonight’s pitching matchup:
Jon Niese (3-6, 4.24 ERA) will start for the Mets.
Career vs. Toronto: 0-1, 24.00 ERA, 1 start (3 IP, 8 ER)
Career at Rogers Centre: 0-1, 24.00 ERA, 1 start (3 IP, 8 ER)
Key matchups vs. Niese:
Russell Martin: 1-for-10, 1 HR, 2 K
Jose Bautista: 1-for-2, RBI
Jose Reyes: 2-for-9, 3 BB
Drew Hutchinson (5-1, 5.75 ERA) will start for the Blue Jays
This is Hutchinson’s first career start against New York.
Career at Rogers Centre: 13-6, 3.69 ERA, 24 starts
Key matchups vs. Hutchinson:
Curtis Granderson: 2-for-2, 2B
Here’s what I’m looking for from the Mets tonight:
More scoring.
The Mets are playing in a band box tonight, and without a pitcher as well. So, the conditions are more favorable for the Mets to score a lot of runs against Hutchinson, a guy who gets a lot of run support but has struggled this season. The Mets offense seems to be clicking, and has been doing so ever since d’Arnaud returned to the lineup. So, it would be disappointing if the Mets don’t take advantage of the ingredients at their disposal.
Niese must keep the ball down.
Again, the Rogers Centre is a band box, and Niese isn’t overpowering, so it’s essential he not only has command, but he command the bottom part of the strike zone with his two-seamer, cutter and curve ball. He did just that in his last start against the Braves over the weekend, and looked more like the Jon Niese the Mets need him to be. But, that trend must continue, and there is no margin for error in this ballpark.
Control the tempo.
This has the makings of a high-scoring game written all over it, so the Mets need to control the tempo of the game while Niese is on the mound. Niese needs to work quickly, but the Mets have to play a clean and crisp game behind him in order to limit the outs and get off the field as quickly as possible.
Just Mets 