The New York Mets are one of the many teams dealing with numerous injuries to their starting pitching rotation. After working with four starters under the age of 25, they will look to a veteran to try and round out the fifth spot while the team awaits players to come off the disabled list. With both Matt Harvey and Dillon Gee injured with return date set, Daisuke Matsuzaka gets the start to prove himself worthy of the fifth spot.
The Mets attempted to go with a young prospect. Rafael Montero tried and failed after going 0-2 with a 5.40 ERA in four starts. He was officially demoted to Triple-A. Matsuzaka gets the nod after impressing in his appearances as a reliever. Opponents were hitting .139 off him while he recorded 32 strikeouts in 29 innings of play. He is 2-0 with a 2.45 ERA overall. His only starts of the season consisted of giving up two runs and three hits in six innings which was impressive. The Mets have not been handing out much support after batters went 1 for 9 with runners in scoring position. The team wasted six scoreless innings from Zack Wheeler.
The Cubs have been sitting as the worst team in baseball all season, but they are slowly pulling things together after winnings four of their last five home games. The most recent came off a Nate Schierholtz walkoff single. He is currently 6 for 14 in his past four games. Edwin Jackson will get the start to keep the momentum. He is 3-5 with a 4.81 ERA. His last two home starts have been impressive after allowing just one run and 20 strikeouts. In his most recent start, Jackson gave up just two runs in five innings. He has a 2.70 ERA against the Mets.
