Lineups & Game Notes: Mets vs. Indians 1:10 pm et.
New York Mets (4-6):
1. Curtis Granderson (L) RF
2. Asdrubal Cabrera (S) SS
3. Michael Conforto (L) LF
4. Yoenis Cespedes (R) DH
5. Lucas Duda (L) 1B
6. Neil Walker (S) 2B
7. Wilmer Flores (R) 3B
8. Alejandro De Aza (L) CF
9. Kevin Plawecki (R) C
SP: Steven Matz LHP (0-1, 37.80 ERA)
Cleveland Indians (5-4):
1. Rajai Davis (R) CF
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. Marlon Byrd (R) RF
8. Juan Uribe (R) 3B
9. Jose Ramirez (S) LF
SP: Corey Kluber RHP (0-2, 4.85)
Today’s game can be seen on SNY.
Game Notes:
METS-INDIANS NOTES: The Mets are 9-5 all-time vs. the Indians, including 7-4 at Progressive Field…New York won five of its first six games at Cleveland, before going 1-2 in 2013.
RUBBER GAMES: The Mets will play their second rubber game of the season today…New York is 0-1 in rubber games after going 7-10 in rubber games in 2015, including 4-6 on the road.
A GRAND START: Curtis Granderson hit a leadoff home run yesterday off Josh Tomlin…Granderson has 12 leadoff home runs with the Mets…Only Jose Reyes has more leadoff home runs in team history…Since 2014 (when Granderson joined the Mets), he leads the majors with 12 leadoff home runs… Granderson has 36 career leadoff homers, the third-most among active players behind Ichiro Suzuki (37) and Jimmy Rollins (46).
YO LOVES CLEVELAND: Yoenis Cespedes has five RBI in this series…Cespedes is hitting .391 (9-23) with four runs, three home runs and eight RBI in his last six games…Cespedes has hit in 10 straight games vs. the Indians dating to April 25, 2015…Cespedes is batting .321 (26-81) with four home runs in 19 career games at Progressive Field.
INTERLEAGUE PLAY: The Mets are 2-2 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 168-158 (.511)…The .511 winning percentage in Interleague play is the second-best all-time among NL clubs behind St. Louis (154-141, .522).
OFFENSIVE IMPROVEMENT: The Mets are hitting .218 after 10 games, ranking 24th in the majors…New York has scored 31 runs, tied for 27th in the majors…Last year, the Mets hit .244, ranking 28th and scored 683 runs, ranking 17th…The Mets are 2-1 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.
STEVEN MATZ: Allowed a career-high seven runs in his last start on April 11 vs. Philadelphia…Matz was 4-0 with a 2.27 ERA (nine earned runs/35.2 innings) in six regular season starts in 2015…New York is 5-2 when he starts…
WALK THIS WAY: Neil Walker went deep for the second straight game…It was his 96th career home run…The last time Walker hit homers in consecutive games was April 14-15, 2014…He has never homered in three straight games…Walker has three RBI in his last two contests and has hit in five straight games.
ALEJANDRO DE GREAT: Alejandro De Aza is batting.275 (73-265) with 19 doubles, three triples, three home runs and 21 RBI in 84 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.
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 9 games against the Indians since his departure in 2014 hitting .250/.382/.429 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.KLUBER: The Mets have faced former AL Cy Young Award winner Cory Kluber once before…On September 7, 2013, the Mets scored two runs over 5.0 innings in a 9-4 win at Progressive Field. Notable Mets numbers against Kluber are provided below…
- Yoenis Cespedes: .333 (4-12, 1 HR, 3 RBI)
- Alejandro De Aza: .130 (3-23, 1 RBI, 3 BB)
- Asdrubal Cabrera: .200 (1-5, 1 RBI, 1 BB)
- Curtis Granderson .333 (1-3)
Above The Mendoza 