After completing their first three-game sweep in nearly two months, the New York Mets will attempt to harness their newfound momentum overseas when they open a two-game set with the Philadelphia Phillies in London on Saturday.
New York will act as the home team in the series opener before handing that responsibility over to Philadelphia on Sunday.
The Mets made a red-eye flight that landed on Thursday morning a bit more bearable by beating the Washington Nationals 9-1 on Wednesday. New York won 8-7 and 6-3 in the two days leading up to the series finale, giving the Mets their first sweep of a three-game set since April 15-17 against the Pittsburgh Pirates.
“These three games here get (us) some momentum going to a big event in London for Major League Baseball, obviously — two important games against the Phillies, a really good team,” New York manager Carlos Mendoza said. “For us to go here and get the sweep, there’s some really good momentum going.”
Momentum has not been hard to come by for Philadelphia, which has won six of its past seven games.
Like the Mets, the Phillies headed across the pond on the heels of a sweep. Philadelphia leaned on its pitching, though, holding the Milwaukee Brewers to a total of two runs across three games, with the Phillies most recently blanking being a 2-0 decision on Wednesday.
Nick Castellanos provided all the offense Philadelphia needed with a two-run homer in the fifth. He has hit safely in seven of his past eight games, going 10-for-31 (.323) with two homers, six RBIs and six runs during that stretch.
“He’s balanced at the plate, he’s seeing the ball, he’s taking pitches, working counts, using the entire field,” Phillies manager Rob Thomson said of Castellanos, who hit just .183 during the month of April. “It looks like he’s getting there. He’s playing well.”
Left-hander Sean Manaea (3-2, 3.63 ERA) will try to cool off Castellanos when he makes his 12th start of the season on Saturday.
Manaea was tagged for six runs (five earned) on six hits in 5 2/3 innings to take a loss against the Arizona Diamondbacks last Saturday.
In four career appearances (two starts) against Philadelphia, Manaea is 1-1 with a 3.52 ERA. He faced the Phillies back on May 13, settling for a no-decision despite logging six innings of one-run ball.
Philadelphia is set to counter with fellow southpaw Ranger Suarez (9-1, 1.70).
In his latest outing, Suarez lasted just two innings against the St. Louis Cardinals last Saturday after getting hit by a line drive. He retired all six batters he faced.
X-rays on Suarez’s left hand came back negative.
Saturday marks Suarez’s 15th career appearance (eighth start) against New York. He has gone 3-3 vs. the Mets, posting a 3.56 ERA.
When Suarez faced New York on May 15, he yielded two unearned runs in five innings in coming away with the win.
The Phillies and Mets have met four times this season, with Philadelphia going 3-1 in those games.