Washington (23-15) at NY Mets (21-16)
When: Tuesday, May 17th 2016
Where: Citi Field, New York, NY
Time: 7:10 ET | TV: MLB Network
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The Washington Nationals and New York Mets will begin their 19-game battle that will go a long way in determining who wins the N.L. East with a three-game series at Citi Field starting on Tuesday. New York returns home after a rough 11-game road trip that saw them drop the last four. The Mets struggled in Colorado to bring runs home with runners in scoring position and David Wright is one of those to blame. The third baseman is 2-for-20 with 11 strikeouts in his last six games. New York is still just a game and a half behind the front-running Nationals in the East and play their next six at home where they are 9-6. The Mets are fourth in the majors in homeruns with 53, but are 20th in runs scored (4.11). The Nationals ended a seven-game homestand with a 4-3 record, but lost the last two to the Marlins over the weekend scoring just two runs in those games. Daniel Murphy will bring his major league-leading .400 average into this series after signing a three-year, $37.5 million deal with Washington just months after hitting homers in six straight postseason games during New York’s ride to the World Series.
Pitchers: Nationals – Max Scherzer (4-2, 4.15 ERA) | Mets – Noah Syndergaard (3-2, 2.53)
Max Scherzer is hoping to come half as close to duplicating his last outing against Detroit on Wednesday. The former Tiger became the fourth player ever to strikeout 20 batters in a nine inning game, but the Nationals barely escaped with a 3-2 victory. The last time he faced the Mets was back in October when he no-hit New York while striking out 17. New York’s Yoenis Cespedes is 3-for-9 with a homer in his career versus Scherzer.
Noah Syndergaard was the last Mets pitcher to record a win and actually has more homeruns than any Met in the last four games. Syndergaard hit two bombs against the Dodgers last Wednesday and pitched eight strong innings in the 4-3 victory. He was solid the last time he faced Washington allowing just one run on two hits and striking out 10 in seven innings.
Scherzer is sure to have a let-down after the 20 strikeout performance and he really hasn’t performed that great this year prior to that start. Syndergaard has been consistent all year and I think the Mets bats wake up now that they’re back home.
Pick: Mets -130
