Sean Manaea has been a mess in the month of August, mirroring the rest of the Mets’ pitching staff. 

The southpaw starter, who had looked solid during his first few starts back after missing the first half with oblique and elbow injuries, has a 7.91 ERA across four starts this month. 

He’s fooling absolutely no one, giving up 22 hits and four home runs in 19 ⅔ innings. 

The competition over that stretch hasn’t exactly been very daunting, either, facing the Guardians, Brewers, Mariners, and Nationals, who all rank outside the top-10 in team on-base plus slugging this season, with Cleveland and Washington ranking in the bottom seven. 

The Mets will give him the ball against a tough Phillies lineup on Tuesday night in Queens as they aim to hold onto the third Wild Card spot in the National League. 

Philadelphia comes into this game hot offensively, posting a .794 OPS over the past 14 days, which is the fourth-best mark in baseball over that stretch. 

Eight different players on the Phillies’ current roster have homered against Manaea in the past. 

Nick Castellanos, in particular, has three long balls in just 15 career plate appearances against him. 

Manaea struggled against a similar Phillies lineup in three starts last season, posting a 5.40 ERA across 16 ⅔ innings. 

In all four starts this month, Manaea has given up at least four earned runs. 

Bet him to approach, and possibly surpass, that number once again on Tuesday.

The play: Sean Manaea to allow more than 2.5 earned runs (+105, Caesars Sportsbook)

Dylan Svoboda is a versatile writer and analyst across many sports. He’s particularly knowledgeable about the big three — MLB, the NFL and the NBA.