Both of these teams are in the hunt for a wild card spot but Arizona is more ‘under the radar’ and actually in better form. Despite losing their last two games the Diamondbacks have won 7 of their last 10 and 9 of their last 12. They’ll return home after this four game series to take on the Cincinnati Reds and the lowly Miami Marlins so things are setting up well for them to make a strong effort to reach the postseason. The Mets have the Los Angeles Dodgers coming in for a three game set up next.
New York has lost 7 of their last 13 though they have taken 5 of their last 8 head to head against the Diamondbacks at home. They took last night’s series opener 3-1 which was the first meeting of the season between the teams on New York’s home field. Tonight, the Mets will start right hander Zack Wheeler who has been solid though not spectacular all season long. Wheeler checks in with a 4.27 ERA overall with the Mets winning 15 of his 27 starts this season. At home, New York has taken 8 of his 12 assignments with Wheeler putting up a 4.24 ERA. In his last three starts, the Mets have gone 2-1 with Wheeler posting a 3.18 ERA. He looked very sharp in his last two starts–he went 5 innings at Washington last Wednesday allowing 1 ER and 7 hits earning a decision win. He was equally as good in his prior start going 6 innings at Philadelphia and also giving up 1 ER and 7 hits though the did not figure in that decision.
Zac Gallen has looked very good in limited action with the Diamondbacks over the past month or so. He hasn’t received the run support that Wheeler has but he’s definitely pitched well. Gallen has a 2.50 ERA in 13 starts with a very impressive 82 strikeouts. That’s an average of 6.3 K’s per game. On the road, he’s got a 2.53 ERA with a 2.65 ERA in his last three starts.
The Mets have lost money at home (-2.2 units), against RHP (-0.9 units) and at night (-9.6 units) which are all situations in play here. Their most problematic situational record is their 34-47 -17.9 unit mark against opponents with winning records. That clearly suggests that they feast on bottom feeders but struggle when they step up in class. Arizona, meanwhile, has made money on the road (+8.1 units) and against opponents with winning records (+10.7 units) as well as at night (+6.7 units). They have lost a fractional amount (-0.9 units) against right handed pitching. At any rate, we’ll take the D-Bax as short dogs here.
