Mets wrap up west coast trip with four games in San Francisco

The Mets finished their three-game series in Los Angeles in eventful fashion, as Max Scherzer was ejected from the game for what the umpires deemed to have been a violation of the league’s policy on sticky stuff. He he thrown just three innings at the time. But a big home run from Brandon Nimmo and excellent work from the Mets’ bullpen gave the team the win in the series finale, which also gave them the series win.

With that, the Mets are 5-1 on the road trip, and their only loss of this west coast swing thus far came in a game in which Clayton Kershaw was simply on top of his game. These things happen sometimes when you’re facing a Hall of Fame pitcher.

Now, the Mets head back to San Francisco, having just in the Bay Area a few days ago to start the trip against the A’s—who, by the way, are moving to Vegas.

In four games against the Giants, the Mets will see plenty of familiar faces. JD Davis, Wilmer Flores, Michael Conforto, and Darin Ruf are all on San Francisco’s roster.

Thursday, April 20: Kodai Senga vs. Sean Manaea, 9:45 PM EDT on SNY

Senga (2023): 16.0 IP, 21 K, 10 BB, 3 HR, 3.38 ERA, 5.01 FIP, 1.438 WHIP, 0.2 bWAR

Senga’s third major league start didn’t go quite as well as his first two, as he walked four and gave up four runs in four-and-two-thirds innings against the A’s. That was the game that saw the Mets score 17 runs, though, so if you had to pick a spot to have a not-so-great start, that was a good one.

Manaea (2023): 11.1 IP, 13 K, 4 BB, 2 HR, 4.76 ERA, 4.65 FIP, 1.147 WHIP, 0.0 bWAR

Having spent the vast majority of his major league career with the A’s, Manaea was traded to the Padres ahead of the 2022 season and spent the entire year there. He got off to a pretty good start last year but wound up finishing with a 4.96 ERA thanks to some real struggles down the stretch. From August through the end of the regular season, he had a 6.56 ERA for San Diego, and he had a 15.26 ERA in three postseason appearances.

Friday, April 21: TBD vs. Anthony DeSclafani, 10:15 PM EDT on SNY

The Mets haven’t announced anything officially yet, but all signs are pointing to Joey Lucchesi getting the start in the second game of this series. If that’s the case, his most recent start will have come seven days earlier for Triple-A Syracuse, and it was a good one. Lucchesi went six-and-two-thirds innings, didn’t give up any runs, struck out six, and walked just one. Having made his name with the Padres, Lucchesi has three appearances at Oracle Park under his belt, though he has a 5.63 ERA over the course of 16.0 innings at the ballpark.

DeSclafani (2023): 19.0 IP, 16 K, 0 BB, 1 HR, 1.42 ERA, 2.33 FIP, 0.632 WHIP, 0.7 bWAR

Now in his third year with the Giants, DeSclafani is off to an excellent start. He’s already thrown as many innings as he did in the entire 2022 season, as he missed the vast majority of the season because of injury. In 2021, however, he had the best single season of his career, posting a 3.21 ERA in 167.2 innings, good for a 4.3 bWAR that was a full win over his highest mark in the five healthy seasons he spent with the Reds.

Saturday, April 22: David Peterson vs. Logan Webb, 4:05 PM EDT on FOX

Peterson (2023): 20.2 IP, 22 K, 8 BB, 5 HR, 6.10 ERA, 5.50 FIP, 1.645 WHIP, -0.2 bWAR

Peterson would have started the year in Triple-A Syracuse if all of the Mets’ starting pitchers had been healthy, but with José Quintana sidelined, he started the year in the major league rotation. With Justin Verlander still gradually working on returning, Carlos Carrasco on the injured list, and Max Scherzer facing a sticky stuff suspension from the league, Peterson’s rotation spot is not going to be in jeopardy anytime soon. But the results clearly need to be better, as his 6.10 ERA thus far this year is far worse than the 3.83 ERA he put up last year. And the underlying metrics last year looked pretty good, too—much better than this, at the very least.

Webb (2023): 23.2 IP, 28 K, 3 BB, 5 HR, 4.94 ERA, 4.21 FIP, 1.225 WHIP, -0.2 bWAR

Usually when a pitcher has more than nine times as many strikeouts as walks, things are going well, but home runs have been such an issue for Webb that they’ve tanked his ERA in the early going this season. The 26-year-old put up a 2.92 ERA last year in 192.1 innings for the Giants, garnering a little bit of down-ballot Cy Young voting attention, and a 3.03 ERA in 148.1 innings for them in 2021. Here’s hoping he doesn’t right the ship in this start against the Mets.

Sunday, April 23: Tylor Megill vs. TBD, 7:10 PM EDT on ESPN

Megill (2023): 21.0 IP, 17 K, 11 B, 4 HR, 3.00 ERA, 5.75 FIP, 1.429 WHIP, 0.5 bWAR

Like Peterson, Megill has been thrown into the major league rotation after originally being slated to start the year in Syracuse. He’s taken advantage of the opportunity, though, with a good ERA and four solid starts, three of which have lasted five innings and the other six. There’s some cause for concern in the underlying stats here, as his FIP suggests, and you’d like a starter to get deeper into games. But Megill has by no means been a liability out there, and just getting cromulent starting pitching should be considered a significant victory for the Mets right now.

As for the Giants, presumably Alex Cobb won’t start this series finale on short rest, as he just pitched yesterday in Miami. Like the Mets, the Giants are carrying nine relievers and just four starters at the moment.