Miami Marlins starting pitcher Sandy Alcantara pitches against the Pittsburgh Pirates in the first inning of a baseball game, Sunday, July 24, in Pittsburgh. (AP Photo/Barry Reeger)
With their lead in the division back to three games, the New York Mets (61-37) head south for a weekend series against the fourth-place Miami Marlins (47-52). The trade deadline looms on Tuesday and the Mets have started early with a pair of moves in an attempt to hold off the defending champion Atlanta Braves. Friday’s series opener starts at 6:40 p.m. ET from loanDepot Park in Miami, airing locally in both markets.
The Mets will start RHP Chris Bassitt (7-7, 3.72) against Marlins All-Star RHP Sandy Alcantara (9-4, 1.91). The Mets lead the season series 7-4 and they took two of three in Miami in June. Last year the Mets won the season series 10-9 and they are 23-17 against the Marlins the last three seasons.
Mets Streaking Again
After a rare three-game losing streak, the Mets have won three in a row. They beat the Padres on Sunday Night Baseball and swept the Yankees at home. The Mets are 40-22 against RHP this season, 30-20 on the road and 28-12 in the NL East.
After acquiring Daniel Vogelbach from the Pirates last week, the Mets added veteran outfielder Tyler Naquin and left-handed reliever Philip Diehl from the Reds on Thursday. Naquin, a former first-rounder, is hitting .246 this season with seven homers and 33 RBI. He homered Thursday night against the Marlins and could make his Mets debut against the same team.
Starling Marte leads the Mets with a .300 average while All-Star Jeff McNeil is batting .288. Pete Alonso leads the Majors with 84 RBI and is third in the NL with 26 home runs. Francisco Lindor has 16 homers and 67 RBI while Eduardo Escobar has 12 homers and 42 RBI.
Bassitt has alternated wins and losses over his last seven starts with a loss against San Diego on Saturday. He allowed two runs on four hits over seven innings and struck out a season-best 11 in the 2-1 loss. He is 1-2 with a 3.72 ERA in July and has allowed home runs in three of his last four outings.
Bassitt lost to the Marlins on July 8 and is 1-2 against Miami this season with eight runs allowed over 19 ⅔ innings. Jesus Sanchez and Bryan De La Cruz have home runs off Bassitt with the latter going 5-for-7. Miguel Rojas is 3-for-8 against Bassitt and Jesus Aguilar is 2-for-6.
Alcantara Continues to Dazzle for Miami
The Marlins may be sellers over the next few days but they have their ace to build around in Alcantara. The team is 13-7 in his 20 starts this season despite providing just 3.8 runs of support.
Miami is 22-23 at home this season and 36-42 against RHP. They are 24-19 against the NL East and enter the series with a 4-6 mark over the last 10 games.
All-Star Jazz Chisholm, Jorge Soler, Brain Anderson and Garrett Cooper are all on the IL. Aguilar and Sanchez both have 12 homers to lead the active Marlins. Of the active players with 200 at-bats on the season, only Aguilar is batting above .250 at .251.
Alcantara has gone at least six innings in 14 straight starts and he has at least 10 strikeouts in three of his last four outings. He is the current favorite to win the NL Cy Young Award and he leads the league in ERA, complete games (2), innings (144) and WAR (5.5).
Alcantara beat Bassitt head-to-head on June 19 and he is 1-1 against the Mets this season with 16 strikeouts and 18 hits allowed in 22 innings. Alonso, Lindor, McNeil and Vogelbach all have home runs in their career against Alcantara. Alonso is just 5-for-27 (.185) while Lindor is 7-for-22 (.318) and Marte is 1-for-10.
Betting Analysis
New York Mets -1.5 (+150) Money line -120
Miami Marlins +1.5 (-180) Money line +100
Total Runs 6.5 Over -105. Under -115
The under is 12-7-1 in Alcantara’s starts this season but two of his three starts against the Mets went over with eight runs scored. Neither of these starters have allowed more than two runs since June and both can go deep into games. This one looks like it has 2-1 or 3-2 written all over it.
FREE PICK: Under 6.5 runs (-105)
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Media by Associated Press – Sandy Alcantara.