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Mets (Quintana) Pirates (Jones) 4/16 7:10 PM
The New Yorks Mets face off against Jared Jones and the Pirates in game two of the three game series.
After Harrison Bader’s 8th inning heroics last night, the Mets find themselves in a familiar spot in winning yet another series. A win today would mean the Mets have won their fourth straight series in a row putting them over .500 on the season.
For the Pirates 22 year old Jared Jones will face the Mets who has shown promise during his first three starts for the Pirates rotation. Over his first three starts Jones has pitched 18 innings striking out 25 batters holding a 4.00 ERA. Jones has a live arm with a fastball that sits between 94-96 MPH and can touch as high as 99 MPH and mixes in a nasty slider.
The Mets will have Jose Quintana take the ball in his 4th start of the year. He has been reliable for the Mets this year with a 3.45 ERA over 15.2 innings striking out 12. With Quintana being in the National League Central division for as long as he was, he is very familiar with the Pirates. He has a 5-2 record with an ERA of 3.33 and 67 strikeouts in 14 appearances versus the Pirates in his career. He will look to continue his success for the Mets later this evening.
Keys to the game:
Over the last week of the season the Mets have shown that they can score runs late in games. Today will be no different for them as they face a young talented starting pitcher, they need to get to the Pirates bullpen as quick as possible. In the 8th inning alone this season the Mets have scored 20 runs. It will be key for the Mets to get Jones out of the game as quickly as they can and go deep into the Pirates bullpen.