Padres pregame: ‘No restrictions’ as Blake Snell faces Mets

Padres left-hander Blake Snell threw 84 pitches in his first start off the injured list, 104 in his second and 98 last week in St. Louis.

The training wheels are clearly off as the 29-year-old faces the NL-leading Mets in Monday’s 6:40 p.m. start at Petco Park.

“I think every time he goes out there he gets that much more confident,” Padres manager Bob Melvin said. “… He’s been out to 100 pitches, six innings, so no more restrictions or anything like that. Just looking him forward to him getting better and better as we go along. It looked like his command was that much better last time as well.”

The Padres have lost all three of Snell’s starts, but he’s comings off his first quality start of the season (6 IP, 2 ER). He has struck out 18 against eight walks in 15 innings.

Snell is 2-2 with a 2.25 ERA in four career starts against the Mets, which includes taking a no-hitter into the seventh inning last year at Petco Park. He allowed three runs in four innings in his other start last year against the Mets.

Here’s a look at Snell’s history with current Mets:

(Baseball-reference.com)

There’s little surprising about the lineup behind Snell, as Jurickson Profar is leading off for the 11^th straight game and Jake Cronenworth is batting second in a fifth straight game. Nomar Mazara is in right field and batting seventh in his first game as a Padre at Petco Park.

Here is the Mets’ lineup:

Right-hander Carlos Carrasco (6-1, 3.63 ERA) will start for the Mets.

The former Cleveland pitcher has not finished six innings since May 10, but is coming off five shutout innings in a win in which he walked a season-high five batters. This is, amazingly, Carrasco’s first appearance against the Padres in his 13-year career.

Here is how he’s fared against current Padres:

(Baseball-reference.com)