The Diamondbacks face the struggling New York Mets in a three-game series starting May 8. Both teams are underperforming, with the Diamondbacks needing a turnaround to stay competitive in the division.
The matchups include Ryne Nelson vs. Nolan McLean on May 8, Merrill Kelly vs. Clay Holmes on May 9, and Eduardo Rodriguez vs. TBD on May 10.
The Diamondbacks have lost seven of their last ten games and are currently 5.5 games behind the Dodgers in the standings.
The New York Mets have a record of 14-23, placing them at the bottom of the league standings.
This series is crucial for the Diamondbacks to regain momentum and improve their standings, as they are struggling and need to turn their season around.
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Nelson pitched pretty decently his last time out against the red hot Cubs. He went 5 2/3 inning, only giving up a run. He did give up two unintentional walks, but balanced it with four strikeouts. Because the offense is struggling nearly as much as the pitching is, that one run was enough for him to get tagged for the loss. Karma for the no decision in his five inning, six run start the game prior. Like all of the starting pitchers on the team, Nelson needs to get it figured out, and fast. This will be a good place to build a trend of his start against the Cubs. McLean has been a bright spot for the Mets this season. Heās gone out for seven starts so far, and he has yet to give up more than three runs in any of them. However, he is coming off his worst start of the season, where he only lasted four innings and gave up three earned runs. He has already faced the Diamondbacks this season, and it didnāt go great for them. It was a 6 1/3 inning start. They only managed two runs, and they struck out eight times.
Merrill Kelly is broken, and Iām not sure what else to say here. His command is gone. His ability to prevent runs is gone. Itās early still, but he is on the path to becoming yet another pitcher that the Diamondbacks signed to a multi-year contract and just tanked as soon as they put on the uniform. Iām not sure if itās fixable. Iām not sure if itās an injury. Iām not sure if itās just the undefeated Father Time who comes for us all in the end. But he and the coaching staff need to figure out something soon, or itās going to be a very long three years. Holmes has also pitched exceptionally well for the Mets this season. He hasnāt given up more than two runs and has held his opponents scoreless twice already, while pitching into the sixth inning or later every time. One thing of note, however, is that his FIP is 3.65, basically two full runs higher than his ERA. That suggests that he is pitching a bit over his head, and that there might be room for regression if the Diamondbacksā bats can wake up like they did in Game 1 against the Pirates. This game will be nationally broadcast on FOX and will not be available on DbacksTV.
E-Rod is coming off his best start as a Diamondback, seven innings, no runs allowed. It was a very emphatic answer to the meeting Torey Lovullo had with the starting pitchers prior to the game. Even before that, however, Rodriguez has been pitching well this season. He had a couple of bumpy starts where he gave up four runs, but in the two starts since then, heās pitched better.
Well, if you look at just these pitching matchups, it sure is hard to see why the Mets are struggling so bad, isnāt it? Unfortunately for the Mets, starting pitching will only get you so far. If you have a team batting average of .230 and an OPS+ of 83, even giving up two runs is close to catastrophic, which is why this could be a bounce back series for the Diamondbacks. Eduardo pitches like he has most of the season, and either Nelson or Kelly have a good game, this easily goes to the Diamondbacks. Now, how confident am I that will happen? Right now? Not very! but hopefully theyāll prove me wrong.