Breaking Down The NLCS Game 5 Pitching Matchup
After suffering a crushing 10-2 loss against the Los Angeles Dodgers, the New York Mets are now on the brink of elimination. Jose Quintana, simply put, did not have his best stuff, surrendering five runs over 3 1/3 innings. Mookie Betts and Tommy Edman combined for seven RBIs, which included a two-run homer from the former in the sixth inning to extend Los Angeles’ lead to five.
The Mets’ offense, for the second-straight game, was nowhere to be found, as they were unable to cash in a run with the bases loaded and no outs in the bottom half of the sixth. Mark Vientos answered Shohei Ohtani’s lead off home run in the first inning with a solo shot of his own, but the Mets would then leave 10 base runners on the rest of the way.
New York’s backs are now against the wall, down 3-1 in the NLCS and needing to win three games in a row to advance to the World Series.
Here are the pitching matchups for Game 5 …
Brad Penner-Imagn Images
DAVID PETERSON
On Thursday night, Mets manager Carlos Mendoza announced that David Peterson will get the start in the biggest game of the season. The southpaw quickly entered Mendoza’s circle of trust in the bullpen this postseason with key high-leverage appearances against the Milwaukee Brewers and Philadelphia Phillies. This will be his first start of October, but he had an incredible regular season as a member of the rotation, recording a 2.90 ERA and 10-3 record over 21 outings and 121 innings.
Peterson has great extension with well above-average fastball and off-speed run value, and is able to use his sinker effectively with a 85% ground ball rate. With 31% usage, the pitch has acted as a way for him to get ahead of the count, and in some cases he’s utilized it as a put-away pitch. It has allowed the 29-year-old to set up his fastball and slider to use as swing-and-miss offerings with whiff rates of 28.7% and 33.9%, respectively.
Freddie Freeman is a lifetime .316 hitter against Peterson (6-19) with two home runs, five runs batted in and seven strikeouts. He is the only Dodger that has more than 10 career at-bats against the lefty, but given that Dodgers manager Dave Roberts sat Freeman in Thursday night’s game while he deals with an ankle injury, it will be interesting to see if they give the 15-year-veteran the start on Friday.
Jayne Kamin-Oncea-Imagn Images
JACK FLAHERTY
Jack Flaherty is set to start for the Dodgers for the second time in this series. The Mets were unable to touch him in Game 1, as he struck out six batters across seven scoreless innings. In the NLDS against the San Diego Padres, the 29-year-old allowed four earned runs in 5 1/3 frames. He has seven career postseason starts with a 3.38 ERA and 39 strikeouts over 37 1/3 innings.
Flaherty’s knuckle curve was the one pitch that the Mets could not touch, and was also his go-to put-away pitch throughout the course of the season. With a 27% put-away percentage and 43.6% whiff percentage, the right-hander is able to use it to his advantage late in counts. He primarily turns to his four-seamer at 44.3% usage to set up his slider (29%) and knuckle curve (21.8%).
Jesse Winker is a .375 career hitter against Flaherty (9-24) with three doubles, two home runs, and three strikeouts. Besides Winker, the only Met on the roster that has had more than seven at-bats against him is Starling Marte, who has struggled with a lifetime .160 average (4-25) that includes a home run and eight strikeouts.
FINAL THOUGHTS
The Mets are now staring straight into the face of adversity for the hundredth time in the last three weeks. It is do-or-die heading into Game 5, and while they have a daunting task against Flaherty, they also have an opportunity to get a win in front of their home crowd to continue this magical season.
As far as New York’s strategy for this game goes, putting pressure on Flaherty early and often will be the key, but the Mets must cash in with runners in scoring position. Living and dying by the long ball has not been successful in this series for them, so being able to ride the carousel and keep the line moving will be how the Mets can score.
It does not get any more nerve-wrecking for this team, but the show must go on and they have to take it pitch-by-pitch in order to bring this series to Game 6.
The post Breaking Down The NLCS Game 5 Pitching Matchup appeared first on Metsmerized Online.