Mets begin long stretch against NL East foes with three against Phillies.

The Mets (14-6) return home as they begin a 13-game stretch against strictly NL East opponents with three against the Phillies (9-10). The two sides faced off earlier this month at Citizens Bank Park, with New York taking two of those three games. In 2021, the Mets won six of 10 games played against the Phillies at Citi Field.

The Mets wrapped up their 4-2 road trip by taking two games at Busch Stadium against the Cardinals. On Monday, the Mets escaped with a wild win after plating five runs in the ninth. Max Scherzer and Miles Mikolas each pitched seven shutout innings, but Trevor May let up two runs in the eighth on a Tyler O’Neill single. The Mets were down to their last strike in the ninth when Mark Canha hit a mostly-routine grounder to Gold Glover Nolan Arenado, who sailed the throw and let a run cross the plate. After a Jeff McNeil double, Dominic Smith hit a grounder to first and beat it out when closer Giovanny Gallegos hesitated to cover the bag, resulting in both the tying and the go-ahead runs scoring. A Brandon Nimmo homer made it 5-2, which was the eventual final score.

Chris Bassitt rebounded from a tough start against the Giants on Tuesday in the middle game of the series. The right-hander tossed six shutout innings in the Mets’ win. The game was marred by a Pete Alonso hit by pitch, which angered the Mets and led to some tension which would eventually come to a head in the finale. The Mets scored two runs early on and tacked on one in the ninth for a mostly-stress free 3-0 victory.

The Mets lost the matinee finale on Wednesday by a 10-5 score, as Carlos Carrasco struggled for the first time in 2022. The game was most notable, however, for a benches clearing incident later in the contest. J.D. Davis was plunked on the foot and had to exit the contest, which led to reliever Yoan Lopez throwing up and in to Arenado. The third baseman was none too pleased, and neither was the Cardinals bench, and it resulted in a scuffle. Cooler heads (eventually) prevailed and the game finished without any further incidence, though the two sides had some choice words in the post-game presser.

The Mets have been hit 19 times in total this year, which is eight more than the next-closest MLB team (11). Bassitt took some time after his start to call out the league and its messing with the baseballs, which he puts as one of the culprits for this epidemic. The Mets’ response, given the almost-comical barrage of baseballs hitting them, is understandable and warranted, and it will be interesting to see how it plays out over the coming weeks.

The Phillies are coming off a series win against the Rockies. They currently reside in third place in the National League East, as they are tied in wins but have two more losses than the second-place Marlins.

As a team, Philadelphia currently find themselves with the third-best OPS (.747) and the fourth-best wRC+ (116) among National League squads. Their offense has been leading the way, while their pitching has mostly lagged early on. Their 4.33 staff ERA is 9th in the NL, while their 4.22 bullpen ERA is second-to-last in the NL, only ahead of Colorado.

Friday, April 29: Aaron Nola vs. Tylor Megill, 7:10 p.m. on SNY

Nola (2022): 21.1 IP, 25 K, 5 BB, 4 HR, 3.74 ERA, 4.28 FIP, 0.88 WHIP, 0.5 bWAR

Nola is coming off his best start of the year against the Brewers, in a game his club would go on to drop 1-0. In that effort, he shut out Milwaukee for seven innings while yielding just one hit and walking one. He struck out a season-high nine batters and was very efficient, doing it all on just 89 pitches. That is significantly better than his start against the Mets back on April 13, when he allowed three earned runs on three hits with three walks and five strikeouts in 3.1 innings.

Megill (2022): 23.0 IP, 22 K, 3 BB, 2 HR, 2.35 ERA, 2.68 FIP, 0.91 WHIP, 0.7 bWAR

Megill continues to wow over this short season and has been arguably the biggest surprise for the team this month. He picked up his third win in four tries on April 24 against the Diamondbacks, allowing two earned runs on five hits over 6.2 innings. He struck out a season-high seven and tossed a season-high 92 pitches in the victory. With deGrom improving but still not quite ready to begin throwing a baseball, it looks like Megill’s spot in the rotation is pretty safe through at least June, which will offer him plenty of opportunities to continue showing off what he can do.

Saturday, April 30: Kyle Gibson vs. Taijuan Walker, 7:10 p.m. on SNY

Gibson (2022): 23.1 IP, 23 K, 7 BB, 3 HR, 3.47 ERA, 3.68 FIP, 0.99 WHIP, 0.5 bWAR

Gibson has been a solid addition since arriving in Philadelphia by way of a deadline deal with the Rangers last year. In 16 starts, he owns a 4.68 ERA, a 3.95 FIP, and a 1.21 WHIP with 84 strikeouts in 92.1 innings. He kicked off his 2022 season with his best start so far, tossing seven shutout innings while scattering two hits and striking out 10 against the Athletics. In his last start, he went 5.2 innings and allowed two earned runs on three hits in a victory over the Rockies.

Walker (2022): 2.0 IP, 4 K, 0 BB, 0 HR, 0.00 ERA, -0.92 FIP, 0.00 WHIP, 0.1 bWAR

Walker looked terrific in his only two innings of work this year. He struck out four of the six batters he faced and was generally cruising before he was removed with an injury. The thought at first was that it might have related to his knee after offseason surgery, but it turned out to be a shoulder ailment that would end up costing him a couple of weeks. In his last rehab start, he threw 64 pitches over four innings, so he should be able to stretch out to 70-80, which could possibly get him to five innings if all breaks right.

Sunday, May 1: Zach Eflin vs. Max Scherzer, 7:08 p.m. on ESPN

Eflin (2022): 19.2 IP, 15 K, 4 BB, 1 HR, 3.20 ERA, 2.97 FIP, 1.12 WHIP, 0.3 bWAR

Eflin is coming off his best effort of the young season. In that outing against the Rockies, he allowed one earned run on two hits over six innings to pick up his first win of his 2022 campaign. In 13 career outings against New York, the right-hander owns a 4.70 ERA and a 1.32 WHIP with 61 strikeouts in 69.0 innings.

Scherzer (2022): 25.0 IP, 33 K, 8 BB, 1 HR, 1.80 ERA, 2.04 FIP, 0.76 WHIP, 1.0 bWAR

Scherzer was yet again dominant in his last start against St. Louis. The right-hander tossed seven shutout innings while giving up just two hits in that span. He walked one and struck out ten batters. It was his second straight double-digit strikeout effort, and the 106th start in his career in which he punched out at least ten opposing batters. In his start against the Phillies earlier in the year, he allowed one earned run over 5.0 innings in the win.

Prediction: The Mets take two of three against the rival Phillies!