Two right-handers expected to be leaders of their respective starting rotations this season will seek to continue impressive runs when Luis Severino and the visiting New York Mets square off against Logan Webb and the San Francisco Giants on Tuesday night.
The Giants got the jump on the three-game series with a 5-2 victory Monday night, riding six strong innings from Keaton Winn and a home run by former Mets outfielder Michael Conforto.
More than 2,500 miles from where his career started, Conforto will get an opportunity to alter his history with Severino (2-1, 2.14 ERA), who broke in with the New York Yankees in 2015, the same season the Mets promoted Conforto.
Severino has had the upper hand, retiring Conforto on eight occasions — with four strikeouts — while allowing just a walk.
This time, Severino will see a player coming off his sixth multi-hit game of the season, a two-hit performance that extended his hitting streak to three games.
“Gotta say there’s a little more adrenaline in these games. It’s great,” Conforto, drafted No. 10 overall by the Mets in 2014, said walking off the field Monday. “It is fun to see some of the familiar faces over there. What’s left of them.”
Severino, meanwhile, has rebounded strongly from a rough start in his Mets debut, allowing just four runs (two earned) over 16 innings over his past three outings. He has given up the same number of walks as hits (nine) in those games and has struck out 15.
The 30-year-old, who played in eight seasons with the Yankees, has never faced the Giants.
The two early wins already give Severino half his total from last year, when he went 4-8 with a 6.65 ERA for the Yankees. He said he’s not surprised by his ability to bounce back.
“Last year I would have no confidence in myself,” he said. “Everybody in his career has a tough year. I learned from that year and came into this year with a better mentality.”
He is scheduled to duel Webb (2-1, 2.93 ERA), whose early season has followed a similar trajectory as Severino’s.
Webb was roughed up for five runs and seven hits in just 3 2/3 innings in his second start of the season, a 5-4 loss to Los Angeles Dodgers on April 2. Since then, he has been brilliant, allowing just three runs over 21 innings in three starts. He is coming off seven shutout innings, allowing just two hits, in a 5-0 home win over the Arizona Diamondbacks last Thursday.
The 27-year-old has made four starts against the Mets, going 2-1 with a 3.52 ERA. He pitched seven innings in a 7-4 home win over them last April.
Mets slugger Pete Alonso has just one hit and a walk in 12 career plate appearances against Webb. That lone hit was a two-run home run in the eighth inning of a game on Aug. 17, 2021, that denied Webb a shutout.
Alonso homered off Winn on Monday’s loss, ending a seven-game longball drought. He has owned Oracle Park in San Francisco in his career, getting seven homers and 21 RBIs in 15 visits.
–Field Level Media
