Red Sox star Kyle Schwarber continues his dominance over the Mets
The New York Mets had to be pleased to see Kyle Schwarber leave their division at the trade deadline when he was dealt to the Boston Red Sox. They should have looked ahead at the schedule to notice their old rival would be back to haunt them with his new club late in the season.
Schwarber continued his trend of obliterating Mets pitchers with another outstanding performance on Wednesday. It felt like he was either standing on a bag or circling the bases all night as the opposing pitching staff struggled to figure him out. Schwarber went 3-for-4 with a walk, two home runs, four RBI and four runs scored to lead the Red Sox to a blowout victory.
Both home runs were surrendered by Mets starter Taijuan Walker, who must be having nightmares about Schwarber standing in the box by this point. Schwarber is now 5-for-10 in his career against him. All five of those hits are home runs and he’s slashing a ridiculous .500/.545/2.000 in his career against Walker.
The Red Sox chased Walker from the game after only two innings, in which he coughed up six earned runs on six hits and a pair of walks. Four of those runs were driven in by Schwarber but he wasn’t the only one doing damage. Boston’s bats were hitting the ball hard all night in a 12-run shellacking.
Walker earned his first All-Star appearance with a stellar first half but he hasn’t been the same pitcher since the break. The loss in Boston dropped him to 0-8 with a 7.74 ERA in the second half.
Schwarber’s dominance isn’t limited to Walker, it extends to a Mets pitching staff that he has owned this season. The left-handed hitter is slashing .395/.452/1.158 in 42 plate appearances against the Mets this year. He has faced this team 10 time this season and has nine home runs with 15 RBI.
Last night was Schwarber’s sixth multi-home run game of the season. Four of those have come against the Mets, including a three-homer game on June 20 when he was with the Washington Nationals.
After spending his entire career in the National League prior to his mid-season arrival in Boston, Schwarber has had plenty of exposure to Mets pitching and he’s no stranger to success against them. Schwarber is hitting .343/.424/.765 with 13 home runs and 26 RBI in 30 career games against the Mets.
The Mets were more cautious with Schwarber in the series opener on Tuesday, walking him twice in four plate appearances. He still delivered a double and scored a run in the 6-3 victory.
The two-game sweep at Fenway spoiled any slim postseason hopes the Mets were clinging to. New York has fallen eight games behind the Atlanta Braves in their division and 9.5 games out of a Wild Card spot.
Meanwhile, the Red Sox have extended their claim of the top AL Wild Card spot by two games over the New York Yankees and they are 2.5 games ahead of the Toronto Blue Jays. Boston has won seven in a row, scoring at least six runs in each game during this streak and 8+ runs in six of their last 10 games.
Schwarber has already proven his dominance over one New York team. He’ll aim to do the same to the other when the Yankees come to town this weekend for a pivotal series that could potentially determine the AL Wild Card race.