Last week’s losing streak had a little bit of everything—not enough run support from the offense (reflected in the hitting meter), bad starting pitching performances (including the only true meltdown from any of the young rookie starters as of yet), and bullpen blowups (Saturday’s game, yikes). Right now, Nolan McLean is just about the only consistent performer on the entire pitching staff. And he has only started six big league games.
| Player | Last week | This week |
|---|---|---|
| Huascar Brazobán, RHP | — |  |
| Edwin Díaz, RHP | |
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| Reed Garrett, RHP | |
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| Justin Hagenman, RHP | |
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| Ryan Helsley, RHP | |
|
| Clay Holmes, RHP | |
|
| Sean Manaea, LHP | |
|
| Nolan McLean, RHP | |
|
| David Peterson, RHP | |
|
| Brooks Raley, LHP | |
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| Tyler Rogers, RHP | |
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| Gregory Soto, LHP | |
|
| Ryne Stanek, RHP | |
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| Brandon Sproat, RHP | |
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| Jonah Tong, RHP | |
|
Because Saturday’s game was such a heartbreaker, not enough will
be said about Brandon Sproat’s performance, which was excellent. He gave the Mets exactly what they needed, trying to stop the losing streak in its tracks with six shutout innings. He scattered six hits and struck out three batters without walking any.
But the bullpen blew the game and Saturday’s game was probably the bullpen’s most costly performance of the week. It began with Tyler Rogers, but ended with Edwin Díaz. Only one of the two runs that crossed the plate in the eighth inning in which the Rangers tied the game was charged to Rogers because the rally began with a catcher’s interference on Francisco Alvarez—something the Mets have been doing at an alarmingly high frequency this season. But neither Rogers nor Díaz, who came in for the four-out save and allowed the game-tying run to cross the plate, could put the inning to bed. Díaz came back out for the ninth and a single, a sac bunt, and another single plated the game-winning run off him, handing him his third loss of the season. Rogers and Díaz would both bounce back to redeem themselves the next day, however. Rogers pitched a 1-2-3 eighth inning and Díaz pitched a scoreless ninth to help set the stage for the Mets’ walk-off in the tenth. The pair also pitched back-to-back scoreless innings in Thursday’s series finale loss against the Phillies, keeping the Mets within striking distance. So overall, the positives outweighed the negatives for both pitchers this week, but they both had a poor outing on the same day and it cost the Mets a game.
Nolan McLean was brilliant on Sunday and helped finally put the losing streak to an end with six scoreless innings in which he struck out seven and walked two batters. McLean pitched well enough to win both games he started this week, but earned the win in neither of them. He left Sunday’s game with a lead, which the bullpen coughed up. In the series opener against the Phillies, the Mets were shut out, so McLean took the loss despite limiting the damage against him to just one run on seven hits in 5 1/3 innings of work. He struck out five batters and walked three in that outing, which was probably the “worst” outing of his young career so far. But if that’s what he looks like on a bad day, then that’s just fine. If the season ended today and the Mets were to make the postseason, McLean would be the undisputed Game 1 starter for the Mets, despite having thrown only 37 2/3 big league innings.
Though Díaz and Rogers both contributed a scoreless inning to Sunday’s walk-off win, Ryne Stanek was the bullpen hero that day, stranding the ghost runner at second base in the tenth to set the stage for Pete Alonso’s heroics in the bottom of the inning. That performance earned Stanek his fourth win of the season and capped of an ascendant week for the righty, who has inched his way back into the circle of trust as everyone else has faltered. The only blemish on Stanek’s record this week was an earned run in last Wednesday’s loss, but that was a lopsided affair. Stanek was one of multiple pitchers stretched beyond his usual pitch count on Friday and still managed to bounce back two days later and give the Mets a scoreless inning when they needed it most.
The pitcher who did the most in mop-up duty on Friday was Huascar Brazobán, who played the unsung hero freshly up from Triple-A. He yielded just two hits in 3 1/3 scoreless innings of work. He even calmed things down enough for the Mets to get back in the game briefly. He was rewarded for this by being sent back down again of course, but he has been recalled again today as it turns out and so will likely appear in next week’s meter after all.
Of course, Brazobán was forced into service in long relief because Jonah Tong didn’t make it out of the first inning. There is no sugar coating it or beating around the bush: it was a disaster for the young rookie. It is unclear as of yet whether this is just a bump in the road—something almost every young pitcher faces at some point (this is the highest level, after all)—or a broader indication that he is not yet ready for the majors, given the lack of Triple-A experience his rotation mates McLean and Sproat benefitted from. Tong took the loss and was charged with six runs in just 2/3 of an inning, torching his ERA for the time being.
As I mentioned, the Mets were able to claw back within striking distance off Jacob deGrom on Friday for a brief time, but Gregory Soto gave two runs right back again to put the game out of reach once more. It was a dreadful week for Soto, who had been one of the more consistent performers in the bullpen, but has hit a rough patch. His week started off well enough; he recorded the final two outs of the sixth inning in relief of McLean in the series opener against the Phillies, keeping it a one-run ballgame. However, his week went downhill sharply from there. He had a disastrous outing two days later, letting last Wednesday’s game get out of hand as he was charged with four runs in 1 1/3 innings.
That outing came in relief of Clay Holmes, who struggled to go deep into the game yet again and took the loss. He was charged with four runs on six hits in four innings of work. He struck out five batters and walked three. After this start, the Mets made the decision that Holmes and Sean Manaea would piggyback—a decision that worked out well for them (which we will cover in next week’s meter). For his part, it looked like Manaea’s outing last Tuesday was going to be a complete disaster, as he gave up a pair of runs in each of the first two innings. But to Manaea’s credit, he settle down (after a talking-to from Carlos Mendoza) and pitched three scoreless innings after that to end the day with an overall line that was simply mediocre rather than dreadful. Tuesday’s game still ended in a lopsided loss because the Phillies piled on five runs of insurance against Justin Hagenman, who had to simply wear it. Hagenman was optioned back down to Triple-A shortly thereafter.
Ryan Helsley appeared in both Monday’s and Wednesday’s games last week and got very different results. It was a mixed bag for Helsley this week, who is desperately trying to figure it out and work his way back into higher leverage outings. Last Monday’s game was such an outing, as the Mets were down only one run and Helsley delivered a 1-2-3 ninth inning with two strikeouts. But on Wednesday he appeared in low leverage and got knocked around for two runs, one of which came on a solo homer. On Friday, he appeared in a lopsided game again and this time he was successful, working around a hit to pitch a scoreless ninth. So while the results are certainly better than last week on the whole, Helsley is still too inconsistent to know if the Ryan Helsley of old is going to reappear on any given night.
It was also an up-and-down week for Brooks Raley, who much like Soto had been so reliable, but has hit a bit of a skid. Raley preceded Helsley in Monday’s series opener in Philly with a 1-2-3 eighth inning to keep it a one-run game. He then appeared in the sixth inning of Thursday’s game and much like Saturday’s eighth inning, that was a pivotal backbreaking frame for the Mets. The Mets dropped a four spot in the first inning that day only to watch it dwindle away, culminating with an inning in which a combination of Reed Garrett and Raley blew the lead. With the lead having withered away to just one run, Garrett came in to begin the inning and allowed back-to-back doubles to lead off the inning, which tied the game. A walk and a single plated the go-ahead run and then with two outs, Raley came in the game to face the Phillies’ powerful lefties at the top of the lineup. He walked Kyle Schwarber and allowed a single to Bryce Harper to give the Phillies a two-run lead. That run was charged to Garrett, but that inning was the turning point of the game and the responsibility is shared by both of them. Garrett worked around two hits to pitch a scoreless eighth inning in Friday’s blowout loss and Raley earned his seventh hold of the season with a scoreless seventh inning on Saturday. But the two combined again for a damaging inning in Sunday’s game. With the Mets up 2-0 in the seventh, Raley came in the game in relief of McLean and allowed a leadoff single. He retired the next two batters, but then hit a batter with a pitch to put the tying run on base. Garrett came in the game and walked the first batter he faced to load the bases and then allowed a game-tying RBI single to Joc Pederson. The Mets went on to win the game in walk-off fashion, letting them off the hook.
David Peterson had yet another so-so performance in Thursday’s crushing series finale in Philadelphia. It’s true that the bullpen ultimately blew the lead, but Peterson squandered most of it before any of the relievers took the mound. He allowed three runs on seven hits in five innings of work. But he did strike out eight batters while walking only one. An Otto Kemp homer off Peterson in the fourth and a Bryce Harper RBI double in the fifth were the key blows in what was ultimately a soul crushing loss.
