The New York Mets have no idea if their season started turning around Saturday afternoon. They’re just relieved July began better than June ended.
The Mets will look to earn their first series win in about a month Sunday night when they host the San Francisco Giants in the finale of a three-game set.
Left-hander David Peterson (2-6, 7.00 ERA) is slated to start for the Mets against right-hander Ross Stripling (0-2, 6.88).
Justin Verlander allowed an unearned run over seven innings and the Mets hit three solo homers in the third inning of Saturday’s 4-1 victory.
The win provided the Mets a much-needed opportunity to reset following a demoralizing June in which they posted a 7-19 record to fall 18 1/2 games in back of the first-place Atlanta Braves in the National League East.
The month ended with an appropriate defeat Friday in which Giants catcher Patrick Bailey hit a three-run homer in the eighth inning to lift San Francisco to a 5-4 win. It marked the 13th time in June that the Mets squandered a lead in a loss.
Giants starter Anthony DeSclafani faced the minimum number of batters Saturday until Francisco Alvarez hit the first of the Mets’ three homers in a four-batter span. Verlander didn’t allow a runner past first base until the seventh, after which relievers Drew Smith and Adam Ottavino combined for two hitless innings.
“We’ve got July off to a good start — we’re hoping to build on it,” Mets manager Buck Showalter said Saturday. “There’s quite a few times, it seems like, this year (where) you have all asked me, ‘How do you come back from that?’ Well, today’s a good example of it. And that’s why I have some confidence that we have that in us, because I constantly see that and they respond the next day.
“There’s a real accountability to trying to get where we want to get. The potential is still there for us.”
The loss continued an inconsistent stretch for the Giants, who fell to 4-5 since their 10-game winning streak from June 12-21. It also magnified how their starting pitching has grown thinner as the All-Star break approaches.
DeSclafani, limited to five starts last year due to an ankle injury, opened this season by going 3-1 with a 2.13 ERA in his first six starts. He is 1-7 with a 6.02 ERA since then, and he tied a season low by lasting just three innings Saturday.
“I’m running on fumes a little bit,” DeSclafani said. “Fatigue has been setting in earlier in games. I haven’t been able to get over the hump with that. I think I’m just looking forward to the All-Star break.”
Another short start is likely Sunday, when Stripling is expected to have a reliever follow him in his first start since being activated from the injured list June 25. Stripling, who missed six weeks with a back injury, allowed a run over three innings of relief Wednesday night in the Giants’ 6-1 loss to the Toronto Blue Jays.
Stripling last started May 17, when he didn’t factor into the decision after allowing three runs over 3 1/3 innings in the Giants’ 7-4 win over the Philadelphia Phillies. He is 0-0 with a 4.09 ERA in four career games (two starts) against the Mets.
Peterson was recalled from Triple-A Syracuse on Tuesday and earned the win later that night by tossing six scoreless innings as the Mets recorded a 7-2 win over the Milwaukee Brewers. He is 1-1 with a 7.36 ERA in two career starts against the Giants.
–Field Level Media
