After getting a win in the series opener against the host Baltimore Orioles, the New York Mets will try for the second time in three days to parlay a day off into a win. Or two.
With Wednesday night’s scheduled game rained out in Baltimore, the Mets and Orioles will play in a split-admission doubleheader Thursday afternoon. First pitch in the opener is scheduled for 12:05 p.m. local time, with the second game — the make up of Wednesday’s rainout — tentatively set for 5:05 p.m.
The teams need to play Thursday or risk having to squeeze in meetings later this season as this is the only scheduled series between the teams this season.
After having Monday off as a travel day, the Mets rallied from a four-run deficit in the eighth inning, extending the game and winning 7-6 in 10 innings in Tuesday’s opener.
It marked another gut-punch for the Orioles, who are 10 games under .500 and continue their pursuit to turn their season around.
“You can’t give a single game away,” Baltimore shortstop Gunnar Henderson said. “You’ve got to go out there and win, because if you look up at the end of the year and you’re one game back, man, wish we could have gotten that one game back.”
Baltimore will have right-hander Tomoyuki Sugano (6-5, 4.44 ERA) on the mound, most likely in the second game of the day. He’ll be coming off a layoff of more than a week after he was dinged for six runs and a season-high 10 hits in a 6-0 loss at Texas on July 2.
Sugano has surrendered at least one home run in four consecutive games and seven total long balls during that span.
Veteran right-hander Charlie Morton (5-7, 5.47) is expected to start the first game for Baltimore. He’s 5-0 in his last seven starts after a brutal opening stretch of the season. After losing his first seven decisions, Morton hasn’t suffered a loss in more than two months. Since the beginning of June, he has 39 strikeouts with nine walks.
Morton is 7-7 with a 3.85 ERA in 25 all-time matchups against the Mets, including 24 starts. His 133 1/3 innings pitched vs. New York mark the second most against any opponent in his career (behind only the Miami Marlins).
The Mets hadn’t listed a starter for Thursday’s originally scheduled game, so their lineup on the mound remains a bit of a mystery for the second game Thursday.
“If we have a bullpen game (for Game 2), it’s kind of like what we had before the rainout,” Mets manager Carlos Mendoza said. “We have to get through Game 1 and see what we’ve got for Game 2.”
Left-hander David Peterson (6-4, 3.18), Wednesday’s scheduled starter, is slated to start the first game for the Mets, who lost three straight Peterson starts until a 3-2 victory against Milwaukee on July 3. He held the Brewers to two runs — one earned — in 6 2/3 innings to get the win.
This will mark the fifth road assignment in a seven-outing stretch for Peterson. After picking up the win in Peterson’s season debut at Miami, the Mets have gone 0-7 in road games in which Peterson has started.
In four career matchups (three starts) against the Orioles, he’s 1-1 with a 3.24 ERA covering 16 2/3 innings.