MLB Wild Card News: Mets face Frankie Montas in Game 2

After the Mets won Game 1 with two comebacks and the Brewers pulled Freddy Peralta after just four innings, Milwaukee will turn to Frankie Montas to start Game 2 tonight. Likely pitchers can always change in the playoffs, and Aaron Civale — who may have started Game 2 himself — appeared in relief for the Brewers last night.

Montas starts against Sean Manaea of ​​the Mets, making this a rematch from Friday night, the opener of the regular season series between these two teams. As Brian noted in the series preview, Manaea was pressured quite a bit in that start and Mets manager Carlos Mendoza was ejected by an umpire with an objectively bad strike zone.

Montas pitched four innings against the Mets in that start, striking out six, walking three and giving up two runs on two hits. Both runs were scored on a home run by Mark Vientos, and this start was the only time Montas faced the Mets that year.

Overall, Montas had a mediocre 2024 season as he threw 150.2 innings with a 4.84 ERA and a 4.71 FIP. His strikeout rate was decent at 22.4 percent, his walk rate was a bit high at 10.1 percent, and home runs can be a problem for him as he allowed 1.43 per nine innings.

The Mets' lineup isn't expected to be all that different from the lineup they used in Game 1 yesterday, but it will be interesting to see if Jesse Winker gets another start at DH against a right-handed pitcher or JD Martinez starts instead. While the pitcher-batter split isn't always the best predictor of future results, Winker has had a lot of success in the past against Game 1 starter Freddy Peralta. Neither he nor Martinez have numbers against Montas that catch the eye.