Mets Morning News: Equal Weapon

Meet the Mets

On Sunday Night Baseball, despite Francisco Alvarez’s first homer of the year, the Mets dropped the final game of their road trip 5-4 to returning Joc Pederson and the Giants.

Choose your recap: Amazin’ Avenue, Daily News, Newsday, North Jersey, MLB.com, ESPN

If there is one lesson to take away from the Mets’ trip west, it’s that there is never enough pitching to be had.

Assuming everything continues to go well, Justin Verlander will make a rehab start this Friday and join the Mets for their series in Detroit next week.

Free agency and a guaranteed eight-year contract have only made Brandon Nimmo stronger.

When asked why he opted to use Drew Smith over Adam Ottavino and David Robertson at the end of Sunday’s game, Buck Showalter emphasized the importance of rest and said he considers Smith to be an equal weapon.

Around the National League East

Zack Wheeler and the Phillies sent Colorado packing and on their way out of Philadelphia in a 9-3 victory over the Rockies.

The Astros scored five times in their final two times up to bat as they completed a four-game sweep of the Braves with a 5-2 win in Atlanta.

Patrick Corbin and the Nationals scored once in the first but never again as they leave Minnesota with a 3-1 loss to the Twins.

Around Major League Baseball

If there was a book titled How To Get Your Major League Team Out of Oakland For Dummies, it would probably go exactly as the A’s gameplan did.

It’s worth noting that if the A’s deal with Las Vegas falls apart, it wouldn’t be the first. Or the second. Or the third. Or even the fourth.

Max Muncy connected for his 11th home run of the season, bumping Pete Alonso aside to take sole possession of the major league lead.

The Pirates gave journeyman minor leaguer Drew Maggi a second shot to make his big league debut, calling up the 33-year old prior to Sunday’s game.

Tampa Bay tied a record by winning their 13th consecutive game at home to start the season.

In his first start back from last week’s injury scare, Jacob deGrom went six innings and struck out 11 Royals.

Red Sox outfielder Masataka Yoshida hit two homers in a single inning on Sunday, becoming fourth rookie in history and first since 1962 to do so.

Angels catcher and Long Island Boy, Logan O’Hoppe, will miss the next 4-6 months with a torn labrum requiring surgery.

This Date in Mets History

Former Met, former future Mets manager, and current Mets front office employee Carlos Beltrán turns 46 today.