Lineups & Game Notes: Mets vs. Indians 4:10 pm et
New York Mets (4-5):
1. Curtis Granderson (L) RF
2. David Wright (R) 3B
3. Michael Conforto (L) LF
4. Yoenis Cespedes (R) DH
5. Lucas Duda (L) 1B
6. Neil Walker (S) 2B
7. Asdrubal Cabrera (S) SS
8. Travis d’Arnaud (R) C
9. Alejandro De Aza (L) CF
SP: Matt Harvey (0-2, 4.63 ERA)
Cleveland Indians (4-4):
1. Rajai Davis (R) RF
2. Jason Kipnis (L) 2B
3. Francisco Lindor (S) SS
4. Mike Napoli (R) 1B
5. Carlos Santana (S) DH
6. Yan Gomes (R) C
7. Jose Ramirez (S) LF
8. Juan Uribe (R) 3B
9. Tyler Naquin (L) CF
SP: Josh Tomlin RHP (0-0, 0.00 ERA)
Today’s game can be seen on WPIX.
Game Notes:
METS-INDIANS NOTES: The Mets are 9-4 all-time vs. the Indians, including 7-3 at Progressive Field…New York won five of its first six games at Cleveland, before going 1-2 in 2013.
FOUR HOME RUNS: New York entered last night with two home runs before belting four home runs on Friday…The last time the Mets hit four or more home runs in a game was August 24, 2015 when they hit a club record eight long balls at Philadelphia.
DAY BASEBALL: The Mets are 3-1 in day games this year, including 1-0 on the road…Last season New York went 32-17 in day games, including 15-8 on the road…Last year’s .653 winning percentage in day games was the second-best in the majors, behind Pittsburgh (32-15, .681).
STEPH CURRY WOULD BE PROUD: The Mets hit three home runs in the fifth inning last night (Alejandro De Aza, Yoenis Cespedes and Neil Walker)…The last time the Mets hit three home runs in a frame was August 2, 2015 vs. Washington when Curtis Granderson, Daniel Murphy and Lucas Duda all went deep in the third inning…The last time the Mets hit three home runs in an inning in a road game was July 16, 2006 at Chicago (NL) when Cliff Floyd, Carlos Beltran, David Wright did it.
THE DARK KNIGHT: Matt Harvey finished sixth in the NL with a 2.71 ERA and sixth in batting average against (.222) last season… He was named the 2015 Sporting News Comeback Player of the Year and the 2015 Player’s Choice NL Comeback Player of the Year…Harvey has a 1.27 ERA (nine earned runs/64.0 innings) in Interleague play, going 3-2 in nine career starts…This is Harvey’s first career start against the Indians…Harvey has lost three straight starts dating to his final outing of the 2015 regular season…He has never lost four straight decisions…His last three-game losing streak was May 8-29, 2015.
OFFENSIVE IMPROVEMENT: The Mets collected a season-high 14 hits last night…The Mets are hitting .216 after nine games, ranking 24th in the majors…New York has scored 26 runs, ranking 28th in the majors…Last year, the Mets hit .244, ranking 28th and scored 683 runs, ranking 17th…The Mets are 2-0 when they score four or more runs this year and 2-5 when they plate three runs or less…The Mets were 70-12 (.854) when scoring four or more runs last year.
YO LOVES CLEVELAND: Yoenis Cespedes was 3-5 with a home run, double and two RBI last night…Cespedes is hitting .421 (8-19) with three runs, two home runs and five RBI in his last five games… Cespedes has hit in nine straight games vs. the Indians dating to April 25, 2015…Cespedes is batting .325 (25-77) in 18 career games at Progressive Field.
THE WRIGHT STUFF: David Wright is hitting .320 (8-25) with three doubles, seven walks and three runs scored in his last seven games after going 0-4 on Opening Day…He has reached base safely in 18 straight games dating to September 20, 2015…He has a .407 on-base percentage during that span.
ALEJANDRO DE GREAT: Alejandro De Aza is batting.280 (73-261) with 19 doubles, three triples, three home runs and 21 RBI in 83 career Interleague games… Has seven career home runs vs.the Indians, second-most against any opponent in his career (he has nine vs. Minnesota)…Has 35 career RBI vs. Cleveland, most vs. any opponent.
INTERLEAGUE PLAY: The Mets are 2-1 vs. the American League this year…New York went 9-11 in Interleague action last season…Since 1997, when Interleague play began, the Mets are 168-157 (.517)…The .517 winning percentage in Interleague play is the second-best all-time among NL clubs behind St. Louis (154-141, .522).
CABRERA HOMECOMING: Asdrubal Cabrera was originally signed by the Seattle Mariners as an amateur free agent out of Venezuela back in 2002 but was acquired on June 30, 2006 by the Indians in exchange for Eduardo Perez…He made his major league debut on August 8 2007 for the Indians against the Chicago White Sox… Cabrera played 8 seasons in Cleveland and had a .270/.331/.410 career batting line with 82 HR’s and 430 RBI’s in 914 games played…In 2011 Cabrera made his first All Star team with the Indians and received the Silver Slugger Award for hitting 25 home runs which is an Indians record for HR’s by a shortstop…Cabrera also was selected as an All Star in 2012 as a member of the Indians…Cabrera has appeared in 8 games against the Indians since his departure in 2014 hitting .240/.367/.440 with 1 HR and 3 RBI’S.
HELLO OLD FRIENDS: The Cleveland Indians currently carry three former Mets on their 25-man active roster…Juan Uribe is the Indians starting third baseman and signed a 1- year $4 million deal before the start of Spring Training…Uribe appeared in 44 games for the Mets last season after being acquired on July 24th from the Atlanta Braves with Kelly Johnson for minor league pitchers John Gant and Rob Whalen… Uribe had a .219/.301/.430 batting line with 6 HR’s and 20 RBI as a Met…Marlon Byrd signed a minor league deal with the Indians back on March 18th and made the team as the starting right fielder out of Spring Training…Byrd played in New York during the 2013 season before being traded to the Pittsburgh Pirates for Dilson Herrera and Vic Black on August 27 2013…Byrd hit .285/.330/.518 with 21 HR’s and 71 RBI’s as a Met in 117 games…Colin Cowgill was acquired in a offseason trade with the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim for cash considerations and currently is an outfielder on the active roster…Cowgill was acquired by the Mets before the 2012 season when he was traded by the Oakland Athletics to the Mets for Minor Leaguer Jefry Marte…Cowgill hit .180/.206/.311 with 2 HR’s and 8 RBI in 23 games for the Mets in 2013 before being designated for assignment.
METS VS. TOMLIN: This is the first time Josh Tomlin has faced the Mets in his career… Other notable Mets have faced Tomlin with their previous respective clubs and their career numbers are posted below…
- Alejandro De Aza: .273 (3-11, 1 2B, 1 HR)
- Curtis Granderson: .286 (2-7, 1 RBI, 2 BB)
- Neil Walker: .333 (1-3, 1 K)
- Yoenis Cespedes: .000 (0-3)
Above The Mendoza 