This is the finale of a three-game series in Washington between the Nationals and visiting New York Mets.
Sean Manaea is scheduled to pitch for New York while MacKenzie Gore is slated to start for Washington.
Mets at Nationals prediction, preview
Sean Manaea is striking out batters at a career-high rate and posting the third-lowest walk rate, yet the ERA is 4.78 while the FIP is 4.27. It’s only been 32 innings, so small sample size alert. He’s also allowed six home runs. The swinging strike rate is decent at 10.9% but the chase rate is only 26%. Manaea has dont a decent job of limiting hard contact, with an 88.7 mph average exit velocity, 6.7% barrel rate and 38.2% hard hit rate.
All six home runs allowed have come off the bat of righties. Five of the home runs have been served up at home.
Manaea allowed one earned run in each of the first four appearances. Over the last three starts, he’s been tagged for four, four and five earned runs. He has yet to pitch more than five innings in any outing. This will be the first time facing Washington this season.
Against left-handed pitching, the Nationals have struck out at the eighth-highest rate while having the 18th-best ISO. Their wOBA is 23rd-best in MLB.
MacKenzie Gore looked like he was about to level up, but he was unable to break through. The season-long numbers do look nice, though, with a career-high 28.3% strikeout rate. The walk rate is still high at 8.4%. Gore has allowed 17 home runs in 138 innings with a 9.3% barrel rate and 42.3% hard hit rate. The swinging strike rate is a career-high 13.6% while the chase rate is at 31.2%, also a career high.
12 of the 17 home runs have come off the bat of righties. The K-BB% is 6.5% lower against righties. Gore has been slightly better on the road, but not by much.
Gore has allowed more than three earned runs six times. He had a four-game stretch in July when he allowed eight, one, six and eight earned runs. Since then, he’s bounced back with zero and two earned runs against the Philadelphia Phillies and San Francisco Giants. Gore faced the Mets in New York in June, going six innings, striking out six and allowing two earned runs on five hits.
The Mets have struck out at the 23rd-highest rate against left-handed pitching while ranking 17th in ISO. Their wOBA ranks 2oth as well.
As for the bullpens, New York has the eighth-lowest FIP, while Washington has the 30th-lowest.
Mets at Nationals pick, best bet
Manaea hasn’t been in good form recently while Gore looks to have righted the ship. I do worry about the Nationals bullpen, but give me the bow wow yippee yo yippee yah home dog.
