Mets at Diamondbacks
The New York Mets keep trying to make up ground in the National League
wild-card race and the Arizona Diamondbacks keep handing them defeats.
Arizona has knocked off New York four times in the last seven days and
looks for another victory on Tuesday, when it hosts the Mets in the
second contest of their three-game series.
The Diamondbacks racked up 16 hits - including nine for extra bases - while notching a 10-6 victory on Monday and becoming the next-to-last team in the majors to reach 20 home wins. Arizona outscored the Mets 17-5 while sweeping three games in New York last week and then lost three to Boston by a combined 31-9 score before again knocking off the Mets. New York has lost five of its last seven and sits three games behind Miami and St. Louis for the NL's second wild-card spot. Jay Bruce is just 8-for-50 for the Mets since being acquired from Cincinnati and has gone eight games without a homer.
TV: 9:40 p.m. ET, SNY (New York), FSN Arizona
PITCHING MATCHUP: Mets RH Noah Syndergaard (9-7, 2.75 ERA) vs. Diamondbacks RH Braden Shipley (2-1, 2.96)
Syndergaard is 1-1 with a 2.77 ERA in two career starts against Arizona, including a loss on Thursday in which he gave up three runs and eight hits over five innings. He is 0-4 during a six-start winless stretch despite allowing more than three runs on just one occasion. The 23-year-old Syndergaard has served up only eight homers in 134 1/3 innings this season after giving up 19 in 150 frames as a rookie.
Shipley will look to duplicate the success he had against Syndergaard and the Mets on Thursday, when he scattered three hits over seven scoreless innings in a 9-0 victory. The 24-year-old struck out seven during a solid 78-pitch effort en route to his second scoreless stint in four major-league starts. Shipley issued just one walk against the Mets, but control has been an issue as he has handed out 12 free passes over 24 1/3 innings in the majors.
WALK-OFFS
1. Mets LF Yoenis Cespedes (quadriceps) went 0-for-3 with an RBI in his first rehab game for Single-A St. Lucie on Monday and is expected to rejoin New York later this week.
2. Arizona C Welington Castillo matched his career best with four hits on Monday in his first contest since Aug. 6 after being away from the team due to complications in the birth of his son.
3. New York C Travis d'Arnaud recorded three hits in the opener and is 7-for-10 in his last three games.