I honestly expected this meter to be worse, but the Mets concentrated most of their poor pitching performance into a couple of games—particularly the series finale against the Marlins, which they ended up winning by the skin of their teeth anyway. The past couple of weeks have also seen some shuffling of personnel—notably the return of Jonah Tong to the big leagues and Robert Stock shifting to the bullpen.
| Player | Last week | This week |
|---|---|---|
| Chris Devenski, RHP |  |
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| Daniel Duarte, RHP |  |
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| Justin Hagenman, RHP |  |
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| Nate Lavender, LHP | |
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| Sean Manaea, LHP |  |
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| Nolan McLean, RHP |  |
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| Tobias Myers, RHP | — | |
| Dedniel Núñez, RHP | |
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| Jonathan Pintaro, RHP | |
|
| Dylan Ross, RHP | — | |
| Christian Scott, RHP | |
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| Kodai Senga, RHP | |
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| Robert Stock, RHP | |
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| Zac Thonton, LHP | |
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| Jonah Tong, RHP | — | |
| Austin Warren, RHP | |
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| Jack Weisenburger, RHP | |
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| Jefry Yan, LHP | |
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Nolan McLean’s run of dominance unfortunately came to an end at the hands of the Bronx Bombers
on Friday night, who lived up to their namesake by taking him deep twice. McLean was shaky right from the jump in that outing, loading the bases in the first inning with nobody out and managing to escape with just one run on the board. But he didn’t get so lucky in the second when Cody Bellinger hit a three-run homer to put the Yankees back in front, ultimately for good. All told, McLean gave up five runs on ten hits in five innings of work and took the loss to drop his record to 11-9. Jack Weisenburger, freshly recalled from Triple-A, soaked up the final three innings of that game in relief of Mclean and allowed one insurance run over the three frames. He struck out two, walked none, and gave up three hits. McLean avoids a bad grade though because he delivered a quality start in his first outing of the month against the Giants in which he earned the win. In that outing, he gave up just two runs on six hits in six innings of work, striking out seven batters and walking four and throwing a career-high 105 pitches.
Jefry Yan appeared twice in that Giants series—once in relief of McLean in the series opener and again the following day. Yan was scored upon in all three of his September appearances. He was unable to navigate his way through a clean seventh in relief of McLean, but luckily the Mets held on to win despite some shaky bullpen work. The next day he gave up a two-run homer in the eighth inning to put the game further out of reach. In Tampa Bay he did the same, yielding an insurance run in the eighth on three hits. Yan was optioned to Triple-A Syracuse after the Giants series.
The roster carousel has been moving when it comes to the pitching staff this month. When rosters expanded, the Mets briefly recalled Dylan Ross from Triple-A. Ross pitched a 1-2-3 seventh inning in the 6-2 loss to the Rays and was immediately sent back down in favor of Justin Hagenman, who had spent all season on the injured list recovering from a fractured rib he suffered in spring training. Hagenman took the spot start in the series finale against Tampa to give Christian Scott an extra day of rest. Hagenman pitched well, giving up just one run on two hits in three innings of work. He pitched again in last Saturday’s loss to the Giants and gave up a solo homer, but the game was already well out of reach at that point. Chris Devenski also appeared in both games Hagenman pitched in and nearly spoiled Hagenman’s strong start by getting tagged with three runs in just 2/3 of an inning in relief, but luckily the Mets had their hitting shoes on and Andy Green gave Devenski the hook before the game could get away. Devenski was better last Saturday, pitching two scoreless innings of relief. He followed that up with a scoreless seventh inning in the series opener in Miami, but then was the primary culprit in the first of two times the Marlins clawed their way back from a massive deficit in the absolutely insane series finale. All told, Devenski was charged with five runs in just 1/3 of an inning in that game, after which he was designated for assignment and then outrighted to Triple-A.
Christian Scott clearly benefitted from the extra day of rest because he has been the most consistent performer in the rotation of late. In the series finale against the Giants, which ended in a comeback victory for the Mets, he gave up two runs on four hits in 4 2/3 innings of work. Impressively, he struck out seven batters and walked none in that outing. He followed that up with arguably an even more impressive performance against the Yankees, but unfortunately the Mets were blanked by Cam Schlittler and Scott took the loss despite delivering a quality start. Scott gave up just two runs on three hits in six innings of work, striking out seven batters and walking two. Both runs he gave up came on a pair of solo homers to Ben Rice and Austin Wells.
Nate Lavender pitched in relief of Scott in both of his starts and did his job in both of those outings. He was called upon in Scott’s start against the Giants to pitch to Rafael Devers with the bases loaded and got a huge strikeout to keep the Giants off the board and helping to set things up for the comeback that was to come. Lavender pitched a scoreless seventh inning in relief of Scott on Sunday, but unfortunately the Mets did not have a comeback in them on that day. The aberration on Lavender’s otherwise spotless record is—you guessed it—the 15-14 game in Miami in which he participated in the collective bullpen nuclear meltdown. He was charged with three runs in just 1/3 of an inning in that game, blowing up what would have been a good grade otherwise because he also pitched a scoreless seventh inning and earned a hold in Tuesday’s win in Miami and earned a hold in the series opener in Tampa as well.
Sean Manaea started that game on Tuesday in Miami and earned the win despite a somewhat mediocre final line of four runs on five hits in five innings of work. He struck out four and walked none in the outing. But the Mets had their hitting shoes on against the Marlins and were able to out-hit the bad pitching all series long. The same cannot be said for Manaea’s other September outing, which took place in Tampa. He was roughed up for five runs on eleven hits in 5 2/3 innings of work and took the loss.
Kodai Senga earned the save in Miami on Tuesday despite a shaky outing. Luckily, Senga had some breathing room to work with and navigated his way through the inning with the lead still intact. That was Senga’s only earned run allowed across four outings covered by this meter in which he’s been a perfect 3-for-3 in save opportunities. One of his other saves came in relief of Scott in the series finale against the Giants in which he pitched a 1-2-3 ninth complete with a strikeout to successfully protect a two-run lead after the Mets put up a four spot in the bottom of the eighth. The other came in the series opener against the Rays. Senga also appeared in a non-save situation in the series opener against the Giants to cap off that victory in relief of McLean.
Robert Stock also came out of the bullpen for the first time this season in that game, coming to Austin Warren’s rescue after Warren gave up a three-run homer to Rafael Devers in the eighth that put the game in jeopardy. Stock recorded a key final out of the inning to bridge the gap to Senga. Stock started the series opener against the Rays on the last day of August and had his best outing yet. He pitched 5 1/3 scoreless innings with four strikeouts and no walks and earned the victory in that game. He then started again in last Wednesday’s infamous victory, pitching the first four innings of that game before things got really silly. He was charged with three runs on five hits in four innings of work, striking out four batters and walking two. Warren bounced back from his poor outing against the Giants with two good ones in Miami, including a scoreless fifth in relief of Stock on Wednesday that I suppose one could describe as the calm before the storm. Warren pitched a scoreless ninth inning complete with two strikeouts in the series opener in Miami as well and a scoreless ninth inning in Sunday’s loss.
The series opener in Miami was Jonah Tong’s 2026 debut and he pitched better than his final line indicates. Luckily the Mets were able to give him enough run support to earn the win, thanks in part to some poor defense by the Marlins. Tong struck out the side in the bottom of the first inning and had one tough inning in the second in which the Marlins dropped a four spot on him. But he was able to recover and bounce back to make his way through five innings and make himself the pitcher of record. He struck out seven batters in total and walked only one. It was surely a debut to build upon and yesterday’s outing against the Orioles will be covered in the next meter.
The bullpen was spotless in relief of Tong, including Dedniel Núñez, who has had a solid couple of weeks. Núñez worked around a couple of hits to pitch a scoreless sixth inning in relief of Tong in the series opener in Miami. He followed that up with a scoreless eighth inning the following day in relief of Manaea as part of a solid all around bullpen effort that day. Núñez also appeared twice in the Rays series—once in the opener and once in the finale. In the series opener, he earned a hold with a 1-2-3 seventh inning complete with a strikeout. He then earned the win in the series finale for calming things down and recording the final out of the fourth inning after Devenski failed to get through the inning. He went on to pitch a scoreless fifth as well.
Jonathan Pintaro pitched a 1-2-3 ninth inning to cap off the rubber game victory against the Rays. Pintaro followed that up with a fantastic outing against the Giants in that closely-contested series finale in which he delievered two hitless innings of work in relief of Christian Scott, striking out a batter in the process. Like Lavender and Núñez, Pintaro earned a hold in relief of Manaea with a scoreless sixth inning in the second game of the Marlins series, but like much of the rest of the bullpen, his record was besmirched by Wednesday’s disaster. He was charged with two runs on three hits in that game.
An unlikely hero earned the save to finally put the series finale against the Marlins to a merciful end: Tobias Myers, called up before the series finale at Citi Field against the Giants when Yan was optioned. With the Mets’ lead somehow once again cut to just a skinny run, Myers came in the game to replace Lavender with the tying run on first base. He allowed a single to Javier Sanoja and suddenly the tying run was in scoring position, but he bounced back to strike out Owen Caissie and get Graham Pauley to pop out to miraculously end the game with the Mets hanging on to win. Myers has been great since his return to the big leagues after nearly two months in the minors. Myers earned the win in the series finale against the Giants in his very first outing back with a scoreless eighth inning, after which the Mets put up four runs to take the lead. Myers also pitched the final two innings of Saturday’s raucous slugfest victory against the Yankees.
Those two scoreless innings from Myers came in relief of Zac Thornton, who earned the win with seven brilliant innings against the Mets’ crosstown rivals. Thornton was amped on Saturday, throwing six pitches at 95+ mph and needing only 81 pitches to get through those seven innings, over which he struck out four batters and walked one. He worked his way out of a jam in the seventh by inducing an inning-ending double play, after which he pumped his fist and yelled in triumph as he walked off the mound—deservedly so. That was a performance worthy of a high grade, but unfortunately Thornton’s other September outing thus far was a clunker. The Giants took him deep four times and he took the loss, charged with six runs in five innings of work, over which he struck out six batters and walked one.
If Daniel Duarte’s only shaky outing was in the wild series finale against the Marlins, I may have been lenient, but he nearly spoiled Robert Stock’s strong start against the Rays in the series opener in Tampa. He gave up two runs in the eighth to bring the Rays within a run before Chris Devenski got the final out of the inning to keep the Mets in front. His next two outings were positive; he pitched 1 1/3 scoreless innings in the series finale victory in Tampa and then a scoreless eighth inning in Tong’s debut in the series opener in Miami. But he caught whatever disease the rest of the bullpen was infected with on Wednesday. He came in the game in the sixth with one out and Devenski struggling and walked the first man he faced to force in a run and then allowed a game-tying single—those runs all charged to Devenski. Hilariously, Duarte was tagged with the blown save in that game, but then also earned the win because the Mets took another big lead in the seventh which they managed to just barely protect. Duarte came back out for the bottom of the seventh and allowed a solo homer that added an earned run to his ledger.
