Only half of the pitching matchup is set for the Saturday night game between the New York Mets and the host Miami Marlins.
The Mets, who have won at least four straight games, will start right-hander Carlos Carrasco (10-4, 4.07 ERA).
Miami, however, won’t have scheduled starter Trevor Rogers. The left-hander went on the injured list Friday due to a sore back.
Marlins manager Don Mattingly, who said he wouldn’t announce his starter until Saturday, indicated that Rogers hurt himself while working on his mechanics during a bullpen session earlier this week.
“He felt some tightening up,” Mattingly said. “We couldn’t take that chance to put him out there.”
Rogers is 4-10 with a 5.85 ERA this season, which is disappointing considering his 2.64 ERA in 25 starts as a rookie last year.
Mattingly felt Rogers “accomplished a lot” in his bullpen session this week.
Carrasco is 3-0 with a 2.61 ERA in seven career starts against Miami. This year, he is 1-0 with a 3.75 ERA in two games against the Marlins.
The Mets are 12-7 when Carrasco starts in 2022. However, his home ERA this year (3.30) is much better than his road mark (5.23).
Still, the Mets feel Carrasco is close to the form he showed in 2018 while with Cleveland. He went 17-10 with a 3.38 ERA that year.
New York’s offense, meanwhile, is averaging just under six runs per game during the four-game surge.
In a 6-4 series-opening win on Friday, the Mets got three RBIs each from the top two batters in their order, Brandon Nimmo and Starling Marte.
The Mets also got two doubles and a walk from designated hitter Daniel Vogelbach, who is one of two hitters New York acquired over the past week. The other is outfielder Tyler Naquin, who arrived on Friday from the Cincinnati Reds and could make his Mets debut on Saturday.
Naquin, who went from the last-place Reds to the first-place Mets, said he was thrilled with the trade.
“It’s fun, man,” said Naquin, who hit a career-high 19 homers last season. “It’s exciting news. It should be a fun ride.”
Naquin, a lefty hitter, has a career OPS of .805 against right-handers vs. .620 against lefties. Look for Naquin, who has a strong arm, to play in right or left field against right-handers.
He joins other key lefty Mets hitters such as Nimmo, Vogelbach, Jeff McNeil and Luis Guillorme. In addition, Francisco Lindor and Eduardo Escobar are switch hitters.
“It allows us to move the pieces around and keep us intact physically,” Mets manager Buck Showalter said.
Meanwhile, the Marlins, who are in fourth place in the NL East and trail the Mets by 15 1/2 games, have alternated losses and wins in nine games since the All-Star break.
Miami’s bullpen had to cover 12 1/3 innings over the past two days compared to just three innings for the Mets, who were off on Thursday.
In addition, the Marlins have several starting-caliber players on the injured list, including third baseman Brian Anderson, second baseman Jazz Chisholm Jr., infielder Jon Berti, first baseman Garrett Cooper and left fielder Jorge Soler.
–Field Level Media