Royals vs Mets Game 95 Gamethread

The second-place NL East team and 2015 World Series losers come to the K.

The very expensive 53-41 Mets are visiting Kauffman Stadium before the All-Star Break for a three-game weekend series against the 46-48 Royals. The Mets are coming off a doubleheader loss to the Orioles yesterday; they avoided the sweep only by winning the first game by one run. The Royals, on the other hand, are 6-1 in their last 7 games and are on a four-game winning streak. This is a key series, mentally - the Royals can get back above .500 before the All-Star Break by sweeping the series (winning only 2 is not good enough to return to .500).

Juan Soto and Brandon Nimmo have been hitting extremely well in the past 30 days, but the rest of the Mets offense is scuffling a bit. On the whole, it balances out to be somewhere around a league-average offense in the past 30 days despite all the money.

The pitching has been the real problem for them recently, though. In the past 30 days, the Mets’ pitching staff is 28th in fWAR. They’re doing everything poorly - low strikeouts, high walks, high homers, etc etc etc. It’s an ideal situation for the Royals offense, and particular Jac, to see if they can continue to break out after sweeping the Pirates earlier this week.

The Mets will send Kodai Senga to start. Senga is returning to the lineup after missing time due to a hamstring injury. He’s been their best starter this season, pitching to a 1.47 ERA with an underlying 3.19 FIP. His strikeout and walk rates are nothing special, but he is severely limiting homers (0.49 HR/9) and base hits (.251 BABIP). He also has an insane strand rate of nearly 88%. I think he’s been the beneficiary of some luck, but overall I think he’s a good pitcher.

The Royals will send Michael Wacha for his 19th start of the season. He’s generally been a solid pitcher, hovering right around average. He doesn’t strike many guys out but he does everything else decently. His ERA is pretty well in line with his peripherals, so what we’re seeing is likely his performance going forward as well.

The game starts at 7:10pm US Central. You can watch the game on FanDuel Sports Network Kansas City and listen on the Royals Radio Network.

Lineups