Bo Bichette owns every hit the New York Mets’ starting lineup Thursday has recorded against Miami Marlins starter Eury Pérez. Three of them.
The other eight hitters in Thursday’s order are a combined 0-for-19 against the 23-year-old right-hander, with three walks, seven strikeouts and not a single run driven in. In fact, only shortstop Francisco Lindor and catcher Francisco Alvarez have ever reached base against Pérez, outside of Bichette. Lindor has walked twice, Alvarez once.
Pérez opens a four-game series at Citi Field at 7:10 p.m. ET, according to the game listing at StatMuse. New York rearranged the batting order ahead of the series, announcing a change involving Francisco Lindor and a lineup decision on Bo Bichette.
Bichette was dropped to the No. 3 spot in the order while Lindor will bat second for only the eighth time all season.
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Bichette is 3-for-8 with a double, a .375 average and an .875 OPS in the matchup.
Behind him the hit column empties out. Lindor is 0-for-4 with two walks and two strikeouts. Brett Baty is 0-for-4. Luis Robert Jr. is 0-for-3 with two strikeouts. Carson Benge is 0-for-3. A.J. Ewing is 0-for-2, Marcus Semien 0-for-2, and Francisco Alvarez 0-for-1 with a walk. Jorge Polanco has never faced him.
Put Bichette back in and the projected nine are 3-for-27 lifetime, a .111 average with zero RBI.
Tyrone Taylor holds the only RBI any Met on the roster has against Pérez, going 1-for-4 with a double, according to data at ESPN. Taylor is not in the lineup. Neither is Luis Torrens, who is 0-for-2.
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Whether a slate this blank qualifies as rare is difficult to know. No public database tracks how often a non-rookie starter takes the mound having allowed a hit to exactly one man in the opposing order. Division rivals normally pile up at-bats against one another across seasons.
Roster churn breaks that pattern. Bichette, Semien, Robert, Polanco and Benge were all wearing other uniforms a year ago, and Bichette’s eight plate appearances against Pérez came long before he ever pulled on a Mets jersey.
None of it has translated into wins for Pérez. He is 1-3 with a 6.46 ERA in four career starts against the Mets, striking out 18 and walking eight over 15.1 innings. His overall career mark is a 3.66 ERA across parts of four seasons interrupted by elbow surgery.
Miami arrives at 55-54, tied for third in the division and 8½ games behind Atlanta, according to the MLB standings. The Marlins ended a franchise-record 12-game losing streak by sweeping the Phillies, closing it with an 8-6 comeback, and sit roughly two games outside the final wild-card position, according to a Marlins-Mets series preview from Reuters.
Pérez is 5-8 with a 3.56 ERA and 106 strikeouts in 98 2/3 innings.
The Mets are 46-63, 17½ games back and 24-31 at Citi Field, near the bottom of the National League in runs and batting average. The pitching has held up better than the offense, with a staff ERA around 4.13. Nolan McLean draws the starting pitching assignment for New York.
Bichette has solved Pérez three times. Nobody else in Thursday’s lineup has done it once.
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