Mets conclude season-opening road trip with three in Milwaukee

Hello, Wisconsin! The Mets (3-1) will spend three days in America’s Dairyland as they face off with the Brewers (2-1) before returning home to New York. The Mets took four of six against the Brewers last season, including two out of three in Miller Park American Family Field.

As predicted right here at Amazin’ Avenue, the Mets kicked off their 2023 campaign by taking three out of four against the Marlins. As they are known to do, they won on Opening Day, improving their all-time Opening Day record to 41-21 (41-13 since 1970). Max Scherzer got his first Opening Day nod as a Met and was stellar over five innings, but faltered in the sixth and surrendered three earned runs to end up with a technical quality start. Luckily, the bats were able to get to Cy Young Award winner Sandy Alcántara. Omar Narváez collected the first hit of the year for New York, in case that becomes a trivia question down the road. Brandon Nimmo drove home team’s first run on a sacrifice fly in the third, and Francisco Lindor followed with a sac fly of his own in the sixth before Jeff McNeil drove home a run later in the frame—the three-run cushion would evaporate in the bottom half of the inning, as previously mentioned. Nimmo put the Mets back ahead for good with a two-run double in the seventh, and the Edwin Díaz-less pen—Drew Smith, Brooks Raley, and David Robertson, in this case—shut the door on Miami.

The dream of a 162-0 season died one day later, as the bats remained quiet in a 2-1 defeat. Jesús Luzardo stymied the Mets for five innings before faltering a bit in the sixth and being removed—the bases loaded rally would end on a Pete Alonso fly out. David Peterson escaped trouble all night long, though he did surrender a Jorge Soler solo shot in the second. Things remained 1-0 until the bottom of the eighth, when Jazz Chisholm Jr. homered off John Curtiss to double Miami’s lead. Alonso contributed a solo home run in the top of the ninth to bring New York back to within one, but they would get no closer.

Behind big games from Alonso and Mark Canha, the Mets prevailed by a 6-2 score on Saturday. Canha contribute three hits, including his first home run of the season, while Alonso reached base four times on the afternoon. Narváez also continued his strong start to the season with two hits and two runs batted in. Tylor Megill got the start in place of an injured Justin Velander and pitched admirably, allowing two earned runs over five innings. The bullpen once again shined, hurling four shutout innings to close the door and prevent Miami from climbing back into the game.

Kodai Senga and Tommy Pham led the way for New York in a 5-1 victory on Sunday. Senga made his major league debut and got off to a rocky start, as he allowed a run and loaded the bases with no outs in the first. He settled down and retired the side without allowing another run and, in fact, didn’t allow a run for the remainder of his start, striking out eight en route to picking up his first major league victory. Tommy Pham, meanwhile, reached base four times and hit his first home run as a Met.

The Mets played a solid all-around game en route to the series win in Miami. Offensively, they did the little things, working out 19 walks and gathering timely hits. Defensively, they made some sparkling plays and even made some tough plays look routine. The starting pitching hit some road bumps but ultimately prevailed, allowing seven earned runs over 21 ¹⁄₃ innings (2.95 ERA). But it was the bullpen that really impressed, limiting opponents to eight hits and three walks while striking out 16 and surrendering one earned run over 13 ²⁄₃ innings of work (0.66 ERA). It’s only one series, but it was good to see the relievers step up early in the season.

The Brewers are coming off taking two out of three against the Cubs. Milwaukee was shut out on Opening Day, managing just four hits against Marcus Stroman and three Chicago relievers. They bounced back over the weekend, winning 3-1 on Saturday and 9-5 on Sunday to secure the series victory. Narváez departed for New York, and they replaced him with William Contreras via a three-team trade with the Braves, who acquired Sean Murphy. They also added Wade Miley, whom the Mets will see on Tuesday, as well as ex-Met Justin Wilson. They also acquired Jesse Winker, who made some frenemies at Citi Field several years ago when he waved at fans after making a catch (a wave fans reciprocated when he struck out in a big spot later in that series).

Monday, April 3: Carlos Carrasco vs. Freddy Peralta, 2:10 p.m. on SNY

Carrasco (2022): 152.0 IP, 152 K 41 BB, 17 HR, 3.97 ERA, 3.53 FIP, 1.33 WHIP, 1.2 bWAR

Carrasco, by all accounts, had a Carrasco year last season. His ERA, FIP, and WHIP were all right around his career norms, and he reached the 15-win mark for the first time since 2018. He stayed relatively healthy after an injury-plagued and ineffective first year in Flushing, making 29 starts and hurling 152 innings. The Mets would take any of his numbers from 2022, and with the injuries that have already befallen the rotation, they will hope he can remain healthy yet again. One encouraging thing: He kept the home runs down after surrendering 2.0 HR/9 in 2021. He held opponents to one home run per nine innings in 2022.

Peralta (2023): 78.0 P, 86 K, 27 BB, 6 HR, 3.58 ERA, 3.06 FIP, 1.04 WHIP, 1.1 bWAR

Peralta didn’t quite match his 2021 All Star campaign, in which he posted a career-best 2.81 ERA, 0.97 WHIP, and 3.7 bWAR but he was still good for the Brewers when he pitched. Unfortunately, he spent a lot of the year on the IL. He missed all of June and July with a shoulder issue, and then returned to the IL later in the year with swelling in his right elbow. His final numbers were good, but the injuries outweighed the positives and remain a huge concern for the Brewers.

Tuesday, April 4: Max Scherzer vs. Wade Miley, 7:40 p.m. on SNY

Scherzer (2023): 6.0 IP, 6 K 2 BB, 1 HR, 4.50 ERA, 4.71 FIP, 1.00 WHIP, 0.0 bWAR

Scherzer earned his 202nd career victory on Opening Day, earning a quality start with three earned runs over six innings. He was spotless over the first five but surrendered all of those runs in the sixth, which made his line uglier than it seemed like it would be. By punching out six, he leapfrogged teammate Justin Verlander on the all-time list, and he now enjoys a one-strikeout lead over the injured JV. Mad Max earned his 200th career win at American Family Field last year. In fact, he was perfect over six innings before getting pulled—it was his first start back from the IL. The victory also helped New York clinch a postseason berth, so it was an all-around memorable game.

Miley (2022): 37.0 P, 28 K, 14 BB, 3 HR, 3.16 ERA, 3.95 FIP, 1.22 WHIP, 0.1 bWAR

The 36-year-old Miley is set to begin his 12th major league season in Milwaukee, the team he pitched for in 2018. In fact, he was pretty good that year for the Brewers—a 2.57 ERA, a 3.59 FIP and a 1.22 WHIP in 16 starts. From there, he bounced around a bit, pitching for the Astros for one year, the Reds for two years, and the Cubs last year before heading back to Milwaukee. He was solid when he pitcher last year, finishing with a 3.16 ERA, a 3.95 FIP, and a 1.22 WHIP in 37 innings across nine appearances (eight starts). However, he endured multiple IL stints, mainly with shoulder ailments.

Milwaukee had a pretty quiet offseason, making just a few trades and dishing out a few one-year contracts.

Wednesday, April 5: David Peterson vs. Corbin Burnes, 1:40 p.m. on SNY

Peterson (2023): 5.0 IP, 5 K 1 BB, 1 HR, 1.80 ERA, 4.74 FIP, 1.80 WHIP, 0.0 bWAR

Peterson had a typical Peterson start in his first outing of 2023. His final line looks good—one earned run over five innings—but he danced around traffic all evening and was adept at limiting the damage, which kept his line from looking worse. He surrendered eight hits, walked one, and struck out five, and a solo homer from Soler was responsible for the sole run. He earned the loss because his offense did not have his back. He made one start and one relief outing against Milwaukee in 2022, and he was tattooed to the tune of five earned runs over 4 ²⁄₃ innings.

Burnes (2023): 5.0 P, 3 K, 3 BB, 0 HR, 7.20 ERA, 4.74 FIP, 1.40 WHIP, 0.0 bWAR

Burnes’ season didn’t get off quite as he would have hoped, as the Cubs plated four runs against him in five innings. While he didn’t surrender a homer, he did walk three and only punched out three, which is a rare 1:1 K:BB ratio for the ace hurler. The two-time All Star, who has finished in the top-7 in NL Cy Young voting in each of the past three seasons (including a Cy Young win in 2021) will look to get back on track against the Mets, a team he struggled against last season. In his two outings against New York, he tossed 11 ²⁄₃ innings and posted a 5.40 ERA with 12 strikeouts while earning one win and one loss.

Prediction: The Mets take take the first two but are unable to pull off a sweep as they drop the series finale in Milwaukee.