The Mets will enter play tonight ranked 23rd in the majors in runs scored, so manager Terry Collins has decided to do something a little different with his lineup. In fact, it’s so different, it’s never been done in team history until tonight:
#Mets history tonight. 1st time in team history pitcher is hitting 8th.
— Kristie Ackert (@ByKristieAckert) June 16, 2014
That’s right. The Mets will bat their starting pitcher, rookie right-hander Jacob deGrom, eighth tonight against the Cardinals. Meanwhile, Eric Young, Jr. will bat ninth in his return from the disabled list.
Collins told Joel Sherman of the New York Post back in March that was thinking about hitting the pitcher eighth, but he hasn’t done so until now. The idea is to present more RBI opportunities to the players at the top of the lineup, which makes sense considering that Curtis Granderson is batting leadoff for the second straight day and Daniel Murphy is hitting second. Those two have been the Mets’ best hitters of late. It’s worth a shot as they try to scrape more runs across the board.
