After an off day, the Dodgers are back in New York City, this time to face the Mets. They have taken the first two series in this road trip, from the Yankees and then from the Philadelphia Phillies.
Roki Sasaki will take the mound for his second start of the second half. He had a great outing against the Yankees last Friday, going 5.2 innings allowing no earned runs and only walking one batter. He also was throwing heat, touching 101.8 MPH on the radar gun, with more movement than in the past. Roki was also sporting
a bigger glove, with some speculating that was to not tip pitches. Regardless, he looked much more like the pitcher the Dodgers had seen in Japan.
Sean Manaea will go for the Mets. He is 2-5 on the season with a 4.74 ERA. He only lasted 4.2 innings in his start against the Phillies last Saturday, allowing four earned.
Mookie Betts, who has been heating up at the plate, sees Manaea well. In 40 plate appearances against the lefty, Betts has seven extra base hits, including three homers. Kyle Tucker, who is still scuffling, has four homers lifetime against Manaea as well as 12 walks.
Marcus Semien is the only Met to have faced Sasaki previously, and was hitless in three at bats.
Juan Soto will be well rested for this series, having been given Wednesday off ahead of the Mets off day on Thursday. He’s batting .283 on the season, but over his last seven games just a .125.
The Mets as a team rank in the bottom quarter of all MLB teams in pretty much every stat except home runs, (14th), and ERA (4.23). The Dodgers swept the Mets in Los Angeles in April.
Friday game info
- Teams: Dodgers at Mets
- Ballpark: Citi Field, Queens
- Start time: 4:10 p.m. PT
- TV: SportsNet LA
- Radio: AM 570 (English), KTNQ 1020 AM (Spanish)
