Finally, the Mets are nearing the end of a stretch of games that has continually threatened to break the bullpen.
With the All-Star break beginning Monday, an overtaxed, underperforming group of relievers will finally get a reprieve after 17 games without a day off. The Mets were down a man in eight of those games while closer Edwin Diaz served a suspension for violating the league’s prohibition on foreign substances.
Entering the weekend, the Mets’ bullpen ranked 19th in the league with a 4.17 ERA. Season-ending injuries to high-leverage relievers Drew Smith and Brooks Raley haven’t helped the situation. The ‘pen lacked reliable lefties with veteran Jake Diekman struggling and a rotating cast of Triple-A arms getting shuttled back and forth from Syracuse.
Right-hander Phil Maton, acquired in a trade with the Tampa Bay Rays earlier this week, should help alleviate the situation, but the Mets are still believed to be in the market for relief pitching this month.
The break is badly needed.
However, that doesn’t mean Mets manager Carlos Mendoza will push his starters this weekend. The Mets will end the first half of the season with left-hander Sean Manaea, right-hander Christian Scott and left-hander Jose Quintana in three games against the Colorado Rockies this weekend, two pitchers who haven’t consistently been able to give the Mets length (Manaea and Quintana) and one having his innings managed (Scott). Mendoza will manage them the same way he would in any other series.
“The game will dictate it,” Mendoza said Friday at Citi Field. “If I feel like I need to push them, I will, depending on where we’re at, bullpen-wise. But I think I’ll treat it how I’ve treated every game since day 1. Yeah, there’s a break coming up here, but I’m obviously not going to put them at risk. So I’m trying to manage to win the game today and worry about today, and then move on to tomorrow.”
The starting pitching has been much better since June with starters picking up 15 wins since June 1. Mendoza has seen his starting pitchers get themselves in better counts, make necessary adjustments and rebound from bad starts.
“Their ability to continue to make pitches when needed, especially when they get in trouble,” Mendoza said. “They can make an adjustment from not only from at-bat to at-bat, but from inning to inning and outing to outing. We saw it with [right-hander Luis Severino] the other day, when he got away from his secondary pitches and breaking ball in Pittsburgh, and then he came in here against the Nationals and started using the slider and sweeper.”
The starters will not be used this weekend out of the bullpen. The Mets want them to take the rest and gear up for what they hope will be a big second-half playoff push. But if they can go deep to spell the bullpen against the Rockies this weekend, it would make life a lot easier.
“The biggest thing is the ability to give us 5-6 innings consistently, stay on the attack and then making pitches when they get in trouble,” Mendoza said.
EXTRA BAGS
Reid-Foley (shoulder impingement) played catch Thursday and will throw a bullpen Saturday.
The Mets placed left-hander David Peterson on the paternity list Friday and recalled right-hander Eric Orze. Peterson pitched Thursday and is not in line for a start this weekend, so the Mets opted for a reliever. Peterson’s wife, Alex, is giving birth to the couple’s second child.
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