Game Chat: Cardinals vs Mets, 4:05 PM

Saturday, April 19, 2025 • 4:05 PM
Citi Field • Flushing, NY
LHP Matthew Liberatore (1-1, 3.93) vs. RHP Kodai Senga (2-1, 1.06)
FOX

Are you still fired up after Friday night’s win? The Mets and Cardinals had a back-and-forth game Friday night where the Cardinals went up, the Mets tied it, the Cardinals went up, the Mets tied it. Things went into overdrive in the 8th inning with the Mets going ahead in the bottom of the eighth, only for the Cardinals to tie it in the top of the ninth.

Then Francisco Lindor called game in the bottom of the ninth. He crushed a ball to the Coca-Cola Corner, sending Queens into a frenzy. Now the Mets look to build off that momentum and take the four-game series with the Cardinals with a win this afternoon.

Mets Lineup

1. Francisco Lindor – SS
2. Juan Soto – RF
3. Pete Alonso – 1B
4. Mark Vientos – 3B
5. Starling Marte – DH
6. Brandon Nimmo – LF
7. Luis Torrens – C
8. Luisangel Acuña – 2B
9. José Azocar – CF

Kodai Senga has allowed four runs, only two earned, in 17 innings this season with a 1.06 ERA, 2.80 FIP, 1.000 WHIP, and a 365 ERA+. He has 16 strikeouts to only five runs. In the last two starts, he has allowed no runs, scattering nine hits over 12 innings. The Mets could use another seven-inning start from Senga today given the amount the bullpen has been needed over the last several days. The Cardinals have the following career numbers against Senga:

• Nolan Arenado 1-6, HR, K
• Alec Burleson 0-5, BB, 2 K
• Willson Contreras 1-5, K
• Brendan Donovan 1-4
• Nolan Gorman 0-3, K
• Jordan Walker 1-2, HR, BB, K

Opposing Lineup

1. Lars Nootbaar – RF
2. Willson Contreras – 1B
3. Brendan Donovan – LF
4. Nolan Arenado – 3B
5. Alec Burleson – DH
6. Thomas Saggese – SS
7. Nolan Gorman – 2B
8. Yohel Pozo – C
9. Victor Scott II – CF

Matthew Liberatore has a 3.93 ERA, 1.94 FIP, 0.982 WHIP, and a 104 ERA+ over three starts and 18 1/3 innings. He’s coming off by far his best start of the season, where he shut out the Phillies over six innings, holding them to only three runs. In his start before that, the Pirates got him for five runs over 6 1/3 innings. He pitched against the Mets twice in relief last season. In one outing, he had no runs over two innings. In his other outing, the Mets scored three runs, two earned, over three innings. The Mets have the following career numbers against him:

• Pete Alonso 0-3, BB, 2 K
• Francisco Lindor 1-4, HR
• Starling Marte 0-2
• Brandon Nimmo 1-5, 2B, 2 K
• Juan Soto 1-2, 2B
• Tyrone Taylor 2-6, 2 2B, BB
• Mark Vientos 2-2, HR
• Jesse Winker 1-2, 2B

Game Notes

• Last night, the Mets earned their second walk-off win of the season. They became the sixth team to earn multiple walk-off wins this season. For Francisco Lindor, it was his third career walk-off home run (also: 7/22/17 and 8/18/18), his eighth career walk-off RBI, and his second this season (also: 4/5 vs. TOR). It was his first walk-off homer with the Mets.
• Mark Vientos has homered in back-to-back games. It is the fifth time he’s hit homers in consecutive games. He has hit safely in six straight games, tied for the second-longest hitting streak of his career (last: 8/30/24 – 9/6/24). He is batting .292 (7-24) with five runs, two doubles, two home runs, five RBI, one walk with a .945 OPS in that span.
• Francisco Alvarez is nearing his 2025 major league debut. Before Saturday’s game, Carlos Mendoza stated the catcher would play the field today in the minors, another game at DH tomorrow, then be medically cleared to return.

Three Things To Watch For

1. Where are the batted balls going? According to Baseball Savant, 66% of all home runs came from “pulled airballs”. Batters pulled the ball in the air 17.5% of the time. Kodai Senga was near the league average in pulled airballs in 2023 at 16.6%. This season, Senga is near the top of the league, allowing that to happen only 9.1% of the time. Three starts isn’t a lot, but if this is still true a month from now, Senga will be reaching that next level.
2. Vientos is heating up! Vientos was slashing .109/.241/.152 after the game on April 11th, where he went 0-for-4 at the plate with a walk. Since then, he has gone 7-for-24 with two doubles, two home runs, and five runs scored, slashing .292/.320/.625 over a five-game hitting streak. He is now hitting .171/.266/.314 on the year and has homered on back-to-back games. Friday night was also his first multi-hit game of the season. Things are happening right now for Vientos!
3. Juan Soto. There are some interesting things happening on Juan Soto’s Baseball Savant page. You could probably already have guessed that he’s near the top of the league in chase%, whiff%, K%, and walk%. He’s in the 99th percentile in squared-up%. What this means is the vast, vast majority of the time, Juan Soto is getting most of the maximum velocity possible on a swing by hitting the ball with the sweet spot of the bat. But he’s not getting the most desirable launch angle. He’s in the 18th percentile for achieving the ideal launch angle (between 8 and 32 degrees). Last season he was in the 65th percentile for this, 35.4% of the time, or 10% more than he is right now. He is normally towards the bottom of the league with this metric, with last season being the outlier.

Let’s go Mets!

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