Game Chat: Mets vs Astros, 8:10 p.m.

Friday, March 28, 2025 • 8:10 PM
Daikin Park • Houston, TX
RHP Tylor Megill (0-0, -.–) vs. RHP Hunter Brown (0-0, -.–)
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The Mets look to bounce back after an Opening Day loss yesterday.

Framber Valdez and the Houston Astros were able to keep the Mets off the scoreboard for the first seven innings of the contest. There were opportunities for the Mets in the eighth and ninth innings, but they turned two hits and four walks into just one run. While the perfect season may be out of reach for the Mets, they could still go 161-1 with a win tonight!

Mets Lineup

1. Francisco Lindor – SS
2. Juan Soto – RF
3. Pete Alonso – 1B
4. Brandon Nimmo – LF
5. Mark Vientos – 3B
6. Jesse Winker – DH
7. Tyrone Taylor – CF
8. Brett Baty – 2B
9. Luis Torrens – C

Tylor Megill is coming off his best season as a Met. Over 16 games in 2024, Megill tossed 78 innings with a 4.04 ERA, 3.55 FIP, 1.308 WHIP and a 98 ERA+. These were all career bests, with the exception of WHIP. Can Megill take another step forward this year?

He faced the Astros at the height of his struggles last season on June 29. At the time, Megill was coming off a start against the Chicago Cubs where he allowed six runs over three innings. Against the Astros, he allowed four runs over 5 1/3 innings on five hits and three walks.

Houston has the following stats against him:

• Jose Altuve 0-3, 2 BB, K
• Yordan Alvarez 1-2, BB, K
• Victor Caratini 0-1
• Yainer Diaz 0-5, 2 K
• Mauricio Dubón 2-4, 2B
• Chas McCormick 0-0, BB
• Jake Meyers 1-2, HR, K
• Isaac Paredes 0-2
• Jeremy Peña 1-3, 2B, BB, K
• Christian Walker 1-3, HR, 2 K

Opposing Lineup

Friday night baseball, y’all

⚾️: 7:10 PM
????️: Closed
????: @AppleTV
????️: @SportsTalk790 #BuiltForThis x @reliantenergy pic.twitter.com/vZBzfMG1Qt

— Houston Astros (@astros) March 28, 2025

Hunter Brown pitched in 31 games in both 2023 and 2024. In the former season, Brown had a 5.09 ERA, 1.362 WHIP, 4.37 FIP and an 83 ERA+ over 155 2/3 innings. Last year, he had a 3.49 ERA, 3.58 FIP, 1.271 WHIP and a 113 ERA+ across 170 innings.

Brown became the player in 2024 that the Astros ultimately thought he would be. The last time the Mets faced him was in 2023, where he allowed six runs on seven hits and two walks over 5 2/3 innings.

New York owns the following career numbers against Brown:

• Pete Alonso 0-3, K
• Brett Baty 1-3, K
• Francisco Lindor 1-3, HR, K
• Starling Marte 1-3
• Brandon Nimmo 0-3, 2 K
• Jose Siri 0-4, BB, 3 K
• Juan Soto 2-5, 2B, K
• Jesse Winker 1-2

Game Notes

• Manager Carlos Mendoza told reporters that Taylor is playing over Siri for a second-straight game because he matches up better against Brown, and that the latter has a “good chance” of making his regular season debut for the Mets on Saturday.
• Baty will make the first start of his big league career at second base tonight. The 25-year-old, who saw regular time at the position in the minor leagues last season as well as in spring training, concluded Grapefruit League play with a .353/.441/.745 slash line.

Three Things To Watch For

1. Megill’s pitch selection. For Megill to finally have a breakout year, he’s going to need to make the best of his pitch selection. Last season, he was in the 67th percentile for chase rate, 74th for whiff rate and 79th for strikeout percentage. This is because, according to Baseball Savant and Statcast, he tossed eight different pitches. Notably, Megill added in a cutter that he used 14.2% of the time. Let’s see how much of his arsenal is used tonight!
2. Hitting with Runners in Scoring Position. The Mets went 0-for-6 yesterday with runners in scoring position and left 10 batters on base. The Astros were not much better, going 1-for-8 with RISP and left nine batters on base. For the Astros, they could have put the game out of reach early with a big hit, as they got Clay Holmes into trouble multiple times. The Mets ended up losing by only two runs, but if they came through with a big hit themselves in the eighth or ninth, we would be talking about them potentially taking the series today.
3. Vientos. Soto worked two walks yesterday, a stat he’s led the league in three of the last four seasons, and Alonso also walked twice. If Thursday was any indication, Vientos is going to get some major RBI opportunities this season. In 2024, he was fourth on the team in that category with 71 despite playing only 111 games.

Let’s go Mets!

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