Montas starts opposite Sean Manaea.
With the Mets having won Game 1 with a pair of comebacks and the Brewers having pulled Freddy Peralta after just four innings, Milwaukee will turn to Frankie Montas to start Game 2 tonight. Probable pitchers are always subject to change in the playoffs, and Aaron Civale—who might have started Game 2 himself—appeared in relief for the Brewers last night.
Montas starts opposite the Mets’ Sean Manaea, which makes this a rematch from Friday night, the regular season series opener between these two teams. As Brian noted in the series preview, that start saw Manaea get squeezed quite a bit and Mets manager Carlos Mendoza get ejected by an umpire with an objectively poor strike zone.
As for Montas, he threw four innings against the Mets in that start, struck out six, walked three, and gave up two runs on two hits. Both of those runs scored on a Mark Vientos home run, and that start was the only time Montas faced the Mets this year.
Overall, Montas had a so-so 2024 season, as he threw 150.2 innings with a 4.84 ERA and a 4.71 FIP. His strikeout rate was alright at 22.4 percent, his walk rate was a little on the high side at 10.1 percent, and home runs can be an issue for him, as he allowed 1.43 per nine innings.
The Mets’ lineup doesn’t figure to change too much from the lineup they used in Game 1 yesterday, but it’ll be interesting to see whether Jesse Winker gets another start at DH against a right-handed pitcher or J.D. Martinez starts instead. While pitcher-vs-batter splits aren’t always the best predictors of future outcomes, Winker had a lot of success against Game 1 starter Freddy Peralta in the past. Neither he nor Martinez have numbers against Montas that jump off the page.