The Mets’ new look bullpen, which had been a fun bright spot in the first half of the month, fell back to earth a little bit over the past couple of weeks. Overall, they have still put forth a solid performance. But they look more like what perhaps many of us expected; there have been some hiccups, particularly in the White Sox series in which the Mets were walked off twice. But in these past two weeks the Mets were also facing teams all in the playoff hunt to varying degrees. On the bright side,
Nolan McLean is in a great run of form right now as he tries to finish the season strong.
| Player | Last week | This week |
|---|---|---|
| Xzavion Curry, RHP |  |
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| Chris Devenski, RHP | — | |
| Daniel Duarte, RHP |  |
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| Nate Lavender, LHP | |
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| Sean Manaea, LHP | |
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| Chayce McDermott, RHP | |
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| Nolan McLean, RHP | |
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| Dedniel Núñez, RHP | |
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| Jonathan Pintaro, RHP | |
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| 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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| Austin Warren, RHP |  |
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| Jack Weisenburger, RHP | |
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| Jefry Yan, LHP | |
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We’ll start with Nolan McLean since he is the only one to earn a fireball this week. He has made three starts since the last meter and delivered a quality start in all three of them. In fact, he surrendered one earned run or less in all three outings and earned the win in two out of three of them. In his first two outings, his offense did not give him much run support to work with; both were one-run games in the end. In the series opener against the Padres, the Mets held on to win 2-1 with McLean limiting the damage to just one run on six hits in six innings of work. Of course, a large part of that is owed to Carson Benge, who helped McLean out with two outfield assists in the same inning. The fates were not as much on McLean’s side in the White Sox series, in which he did not factor into the decision despite six scoreless innings of work with six strikeouts and just one hit allowed. The bats finally woke up for him on Saturday as he cruised through seven innings of allowing just one unearned run on two hits, striking out four and walking three in the only win over the Astros. The only thing you could possibly say about McLean right now is that he is not missing as many bats as he does when he is truly dominating. But the results are there. Outside of the speed bump McLean experienced in May in which he pitched to a 6.10 ERA, he has posted an ERA under three in every other month this season.
The duo of Daniel Duarte and Kodai Senga, which had been so solid of late, were the culprits in relief of McLean in the walk-off loss to the White Sox. In the midst of striking out three batters in the eighth inning, Duarte still allowed the game’s first run on a Miguel Vargas single and an Andrew Benintendi double. The Mets came back to tie the game in the top of the ninth, but with one out in the bottom of the ninth, Senga allowed a walk-off home run to Tristan Peters. And so it goes. That was the only truly costly misstep by Senga in five appearances over the past couple of weeks. He did allow a run in the ninth inning of the series finale against the Padres, but luckily in that contest the Mets provided him with a three-run cushion, which proved to be enough for him to still earn his fourth save of the season. Duarte pitched a scoreless eighth in that game as well with two strikeouts to earn his fourth hold of the season and he also earned the save in the series opener in relief of McLean with a scoreless ninth inning complete with two strikeouts. Senga appeared in a non-save situation in the only victory of the White Sox series and worked around a hit and a walk to pitch a scoreless ninth. He then appeared on back-to-back days in the Astros series and handled that well with a scoreless inning in Friday’s close loss and a scoreless ninth inning to cap off Saturday’s win, assisted by a spectacular catch by A.J. Ewing against the wall. Duarte acted as the bridge between McLean and Senga on Saturday as well and gave up a solo home run to Yordan Alvarez, but you know, that’ll happen sometimes. It did not cost the Mets the win and Duarte still earned his fifth hold of the season.
Duarte also appeared in the other walk-off loss to the White Sox in the series opener, successfully recording the final two outs of the eighth inning in a tie game. It was Jefry Yan who got walked off in that one—also by giving up the long ball. Yan issued a leadoff walk and that runner was sacrificed to second base. He bounced back to retire old friend Luisangel Acuña to come within one out of getting out of the jam, but Jake Rogers took him deep to end the game. Yan recovered and pitched well in the Brewers series. After the Brewers tied the game in the ninth in the series opener, Yan recorded two crucial outs. He struck out Garrett Mitchell for the second out after coming into the game, but then he walked Joey Ortiz to load the bases. He gave up a screaming liner to David Hamilton that seemed sure to give the Brewers the lead, but he was assisted by a leaping Francisco Lindor, who made a spectacular catch and Yan did a version of his strikeout celebration. He followed up that high stakes moment with two scoreless innings in lower leverage the next day, but his service in soaking up two innings in a lopsided game was appreciated. He then appeared in Sunday’s game and coughed up some crucial insurance to the Astros, but to be fair to Yan, it was not entirely his fault. He did load the bases in a one-run game on a walk, a single, and a hit by pitch. But he induced what should have been an inning-ending double play, but instead became two runs due to a throwing error by Jared Young; only one of the two runs was charged to Yan as earned.
Sean Manaea started that series opener in Chicago which ended in the walk-off loss and things went great for him…until they very quickly didn’t. Manaea delivered five scoreless innings to start the game and the Mets got out to a 4-0 lead. But then things unraveled in the blink of an eye in the sixth as the White Sox hit back-to-back-to-back home runs off Manaea to tie the game, setting the stage for the late-inning drama to follow. Unfortunately, Manaea’s next outing was even worse. In the series finale against the Brewers, Manaea was tagged for six runs on eight hits in 5 2/3 innings, taking the loss to fall to 4-6 on the year. Xzavion Curry, whose job seems to be to fall on the sword and take one for the team, came in for mop-up duty to relieve Manaea in that game and gave up two runs in 2 1/3 innings of work. He was then of course sent back down to Triple-A Syracuse.
Austin Warren, freshly activated from the injured list, pitched the final inning of that loss to the Brewers and worked around two hits to pitch a scoreless ninth, striking out two. But it was against Warren whom the Brewers tied the game in the ninth in the series opener. He gave up a leadoff double, issued a walk, and then yielded a game-tying RBI double to pinch hitter Christian Yelich before getting a key strikeout of Luis Lara and then making way for Yan. Luckily for Warren, the Mets would go on to walk it off in extras and the game would stay tied in the ninth thanks to Lindor’s heroics. Warren also earned the win in the only victory in the White Sox series with 1 2/3 scoreless innings of work. Warren capped off this two week stretch with a 1-2-3 eighth inning in Sunday’s loss after the disastrous middle innings saw the game get away from the Mets. He was followed by Chris Devenski, who was called up when the Mets sent Curry down to Triple-A. Devenski pitched a 1-2-3 ninth inning in his only appearance for this meter.
Jonathan Pintaro took the loss in Sunday’s rubber game for giving up a double and then a go-ahead two-run homer to LaMonte Wade Jr. in the sixth. That was his only costly poor outing over this two-week stretch, but it does loom large. Pintaro’s best performances came in the Padres series in which he appeared in two close games and held the fort. In the series opener, Pintaro came in the game in relief of McLean and delivered 1 1/3 scoreless innings to earn his first hold of the season. Then in the series finale he recorded the final two outs of the fifth inning to protect what was a one-run lead at the time. He also recorded two outs in the only victory against the White Sox, though he did give up a run on a walk and two hits in that outing. But Pintaro played the hero in Tuesday’s extra-inning victory by keeping the Brewers off the board in the tenth thanks to two strikeouts, setting the stage for the walk-off and earning the win in that contest. He also contributed a scoreless seventh inning in Friday night’s loss before getting bitten by the long ball on Sunday.
Friday’s loss saw the end of Nate Lavender’s streak of not allowing inherited runners to score. If it wasn’t for that outing, he probably would have earned a fireball alongside McLean for his otherwise fantastic work as the primary lefty out of the pen, but that outing is the one blemish on his record, despite a 0.00 ERA for this two-week stretch. So he still earns good marks, but falls just shy of fireball status. With one out in the sixth and the bases loaded on Friday, Lavender came in the game and allowed all three inherited runners to score before stopping the bleeding. Unfortunately, that was ultimately the difference in the game. But otherwise, Lavender was spotless in his other four appearances that preceded that one. After Pintaro’s 1 1/3 scoreless innings in relief of McLean in the series opener against San Diego, Lavender came in to face the lefties in the eighth and retired them both to keep the one-run lead in tact. He also earned the win in the series finale against the Padres with a scoreless sixth inning, striking out two batters. After Manaea imploded in the sixth against the White Sox with the home run bonanza, Lavender turned the temperature down with 1 1/3 hitless innings of work complete with two strikeouts. Finally, Lavender earned his sixth hold of the season with two scoreless innings of work in the extra-inning victory against the Brewers.
That outing came in relief of Zac Thornton, who delivered a quality start in that thrilling series opener against Milwaukee. He scattered seven hits across six innings, but only gave up one run, striking out four batters and walking none. That was probably his best start of the three he had over the past two weeks. Thornton took the loss in the second game of the Padres series, yielding three runs on seven hits in five innings of work, but striking out a whopping seven batters while walking only one. Jack Weisenburger gave up an additional run in 1 1/3 innings in relief of Thornton in that game, after which he was sent back down to Triple-A. Thornton was also the starter on Saturday and things began well enough on that day, but he was ultimately let down by his middle relievers. Thonrton was charged with two runs on six hits in five innings of work, striking out five batters and walking none. Characteristically, Thornton continues to be effective by limiting his walks.
Dedniel Núñez pitched the final two innings of the loss against the Padres started by Thornton and gave up a solo homer to Manny Machado in the ninth, but that run turned out to be not meaningful insurance. Overall, these past couple of weeks have been a massive improvement for Núñez, who was not scored upon in any of his subsequent five outings. He earned a hold—his first of the season—with a scoreless eighth inning in the win over the White Sox last Saturday. He then followed that up with a scoreless seventh inning the next day in relief of McLean before things went south for Duarte and Senga. Núñez pitched a scoreless ninth inning in Wednesday’s lopsided loss to the Brewers and a scoreless eighth in Friday’s more narrow loss to the Astros, complete with two strikeouts.
Wednesday’s loss was started by Robert Stock, who took a beating to the tune of seven runs on ten hits, taking the loss. Stock lasted just four innings, so Chayce McDermott was called into service to soak up two innings in relief, over which he gave up an additional (meaningless) run. That was McDermott’s only appearance before being optioned to Triple-A Syracuse. Stock’s other start was much better; he gave up just one run on two hits in the series finale against the Padres, which ultimately ended in a Mets victory, though Stock did not earn the win himself, having lasted just 4 1/3 innings. But he struck out six Padres over those 4 1/3 innings and walked three. Of course, Stock delivered his best start yet in his outing yesterday, but that will be covered by the next meter.
Christian Scott was also the starter for one Mets win and one Mets loss in this two-week span, but unfortunately he only factored into the decision for the loss. Scott did not pitch particularly well in either outing, but the Mets put up their highest run total in this 12-game stretch for his start against the White Sox, so he was given plenty of support despite giving up four runs on five hits in just 4 2/3 innings of work. Scott struck out six batters, but walked four. Andy Green clearly tried very hard to coax Scott through five innings so he could be the pitcher of record, but his command failed him in the fifth and he walked in a run that brought the go-ahead run to the plate and things just got too dicey with Scott’s pitch count nearing 100, necessitating Pintaro to help Scott get out of it. Scott arguably pitched better against the Astros, but took the loss to even his record at 4-4 because the Mets failed to provide the run support they gave him in his other start. But once again walks were the problem for Scott. He gave up three runs despite only giving up one hit because of Nate Lavender’s failure to strand his inherited runners. Scott walked the bases loaded in the sixth and all three runs came around to score, so he was ultimately charged with three runs in 5 1/3 innings of work.
