Welcome back to Monday Stat Party, a weekly series showcasing some of the most curious and nostalgia-inducing statistical developments from the past week of Mets baseball. What unites each entry is the sense of intrigue which they aim to spark, and the unbridled love of the game’s anomalies from which they arise. Without further ado, let the stat party begin
.MONDAY
The Mets scored five runs in an inning for the tenth time this season. Three of those instances have come against the Braves (July 5,
July 27, August 10). It was the first time the Mets scored five runs in the first inning of a game since Opening Day against Paul Skenes and the Pirates.
Brett Baty’s grand slam was the first of his career, and his first home run in Atlanta since he homered in his first big-league at-bat on August 17, 2022.
TUESDAY
Nolan McLean began his outing with four no-hit innings for the third time this season, having previously done so on April 3 in San Francisco and April 21 against the Twins.
The Mets suffered their thirteenth shutout loss of the season, tying them with the Pirates for the most of any team in the majors.
The Mets recorded seven outs on batted balls of 100+ mph, tied for their second-most in a game this season behind a loss to the Cubs at Wrigley Field on April 19 in which they hit eight.
WEDNESDAY
Zac Thornton became the first Mets pitcher with at least five quality starts in their first eight career games since Jacob deGrom. The only other Mets debuting since 2000 to accomplish that feat were Dillon Gee and Matt Harvey.
Thornton’s 2.78 ERA through eight career games is the 10th-best among Mets pitchers with a minimum of five innings per outing, behind: Nolan McLean (2.06), Nolan Ryan (2.09), Rick Aguilera (2.14), Masato Yoshii (2.25), Robert Gsellman (2.42), Tom Seaver (2.50), Jim McAndrew (2.53), Jason Jacome (2.67), and Tylor Megill (2.68).
FRIDAY
The Mets won the series-opener against the Nationals at Citi Field. They have now won seven straight series-openers against the Nats at home, and 10 of their last 11.
SATURDAY
The Mets saw 51 pitches in the first inning from the Nationals. That’s the most pitches they’ve seen in the first inning of a game since June 16, 1989, in Philadelphia, when they scored eight runs on 52 pitches against Phillies starter Bruce Ruffin. They blew the lead and trailed 10-9 three innings later in that game, but eventually came back to win 15-11. Since 1969, there was only one other time the Mets had pulled off a 51-pitch first inning, and it was one day shy of exactly 38 years earlier, on August 16, 1988, in San Francisco, when they scored nine runs in the first.
Francisco Lindor recorded his seventh walk-off plate appearance as a Met, tying him for fifth-most in franchise history behind Wilmer Flores (10), David Wright (9), Pete Alonso (9), and Kevin McReynolds (8).
Lindor’s walk-off single marked his 228th RBI at Citi Field, tying him with Brandon Nimmo for 2nd-most in the ballpark’s history behind Pete Alonso (350).
Carson Benge’s 98.1-mph throw to the plate was the 3rd-fastest outfield assist by a Mets player in the Statcast era (since 2015), trailing only a pair of other throws made by Benge earlier this season. (source: Sarah Langs on X)
Francisco Alvarez’s game-tying double was his 161st RBI as a catcher, moving him into sixth place in franchise history behind Mike Piazza (595), Todd Hundley (383), Jerry Grote (350), Gary Carter (333), and John Stearns (287).
Jefry Yan became the sixth Mets rookie to earn a win this season, along with Nolan McLean, Zac Thornton, Jonah Tong, Chayce McDermott, and Jonathan Pintaro. That ties them with the Twins and Angels for the most rookies on a team to earn a win this season. It also ties them for the fifth-most in franchise history, behind 1995 (9), 1983 (8), 1965 (7), and 2015 (7).
SUNDAY
Christian Scott struck out five or more batters for a 10th consecutive outing. He is one of only eight MLB pitchers with an active streak that long, along with Dylan Cease (30), Jacob Misiorowksi (23), Cam Schlittler (13), Jesús Luzardo (12), Gerrit Cole (11), Tarik Skubal (11), and Gavin Williams (10).
Carson Benge recorded his seventh assist of the season in right field, the fourth-most behind Wilyer Abreu (12), Jordan Walker (8), and Cam Smith (8).
After entering the week with zero career saves, Kodai Senga became the second Japanese-born player in MLB history to record a save in three consecutive appearances, joining Koji Uehera.
Bo Bichette recorded his 11th three-hit game of the season, tied for seventh-most in MLB behind Luis Arraez (14), Yordan Alvarez (13), Otto Lopez (13), Yandy Díaz (12), Michael Harris II (12), and Gunnar Henderson (12).
With a fourth-inning single, Jared Young extended his hitting streak to six games, marking the longest single-season hitting streak of his career.
Luis Torrens hit his fourth home run in seven games, something he hadn’t done since July 4, 2021, with the Mariners. He’s the first Mets catcher to do it since Francisco Alvarez on July 18, 2023.
The Mets have now swept the Nationals at Citi Field seven times in their past 13 series in New York, dating back to August 10-12, 2021.
Miscellaneous Mets stat of the week:
In the expansion era (since 1961), only 10 teams have won at least two-thirds of their games in a season, excluding the shortened 2020 season:
2022 Dodgers
2018 Red Sox
2001 Mariners
1998 Yankees
1995 Indians
1986 Mets
1975 Reds
1970 Orioles
1969 Orioles
1961 Yankees
The Mets and Yankees are the only two franchises to have a team on this list and to have eliminated a team on this list in the playoffs (the Mets defeated the 1970 Orioles in the World Series, while the Yankees defeated the 2001 Mariners in the ALCS).
