The San Francisco Giants and New York Mets will get a chance to put new players on display — including two who simply will be trading dugouts — when the rivals open a three-game series in New York on Friday night.
The teams will meet for the fourth, fifth and sixth times over a 10-day span that began with the Mets venturing into Oracle Park in San Francisco and walking away with 8-1, 2-1 and 5-3 wins last week.
Two of the participants in that series, relievers Tyler Rogers and Jose Butto, have since been traded for one another, with the Giants also getting two Mets minor-league prospects.
Rogers pitched twice in the series, retiring four of the five Mets he faced, including two by strikeouts. That lowered his ERA to 1.47, which took a hit (up to 1.80) when the right-hander allowed two runs in one inning against the Pittsburgh Pirates on Tuesday. Rogers (4-3) took the loss in that game.
The Giants were swept in that Pirates series, completing a 0-6 homestand, but flew east on Thursday with more disappointment in losing Rogers than the games.
“The Mets got a good one,” Giants All-Star starter Logan Webb somberly told reporters after Wednesday’s game. “He’s saved me a lot of times; he’s saved the Giants a lot of times. He’s been one of the best relievers in baseball.”
The Giants also sent out two other regulars at the trade deadline — closer Camilo Doval to the New York Yankees and Mike Yastrzemski to the Kansas City Royals — for five minor-leaguers, including three pitchers.
In exchange for Rogers, the Giants received Butto as well as two prospects — pitcher Blade Tidwell and outfielder Drew Gilbert. Butto is expected to be placed on the active roster in order to face his old mates.
The right-hander was the winning pitcher in Sunday’s win in San Francisco, setting down three Giants in a row to bridge the sixth and seventh innings. He went on to suffer the loss Tuesday in San Diego — part of three consecutive Padres wins over the Mets — sending him to the Giants with a 3-2 record and 3.64 ERA.
The Mets — who had acquired another reliever, Gregory Soto, in an earlier trade with the Baltimore Orioles — followed the Giants’ script and made two subsequent moves after the Butto-Rogers deal. They picked up a third reliever, Ryan Helsley, from the Cardinals, as well as Orioles center fielder Cedric Mullins.
The Cardinals acquired three prospects for Helsley, while the Orioles picked up three minor-league pitchers for Mullins.
Mets general manager David Stearns assured reporters Thursday he had to pay a heavy price to improve his team’s chances of winning a championship this season.
“We believe we traded a number of players who are going to play on TV,” he observed. “Our responsibility here is to give ourselves a chance to make the playoffs and ultimately win a World Series every single year.”
All-Star left-handers Robbie Ray of the Giants and David Peterson of the Mets will duel in the series opener, a rematch of a 2-1 Mets win last Saturday in San Francisco.
Ray (9-5, 2.93 ERA) was the hard-luck loser in that head-to-head, allowing two runs in 5 2/3 innings. The effort dropped his career record against the Mets to 4-2 and raised his ERA against them to 3.43 in eight starts.
Peterson (7-4, 2.83 ERA) got the win after limiting the Giants to one run in six innings. He’s now 2-1 with a 4.71 ERA in four lifetime starts against San Francisco.
–Field Level Media
