The Mets may not have traded for a frontline starting pitcher Tuesday, but maybe they didn’t need to since left-hander Sean Manaea morphed into one.
Manaea tossed seven innings of two-hit ball in the Mets’ 2-0 win over the Minnesota Twins on Tuesday night at Citi Field. It was quite possibly his best start in a Mets uniform.
Manaea out-dueled rookie right-hander David Festa, who didn’t give the Mets much. Manaea was efficient, throwing 97 pitches, walking one and striking out a season-high 11 hitters. He worked quickly and efficiently, got ahead in counts and missing bats with his slider. The Twins swung and missed 23 times against Manaea and barely managed to hit anything passed the infield.
Seven innings tied Manaea’s longest outing of the season and his seven wins (7-4) matches his total from last season when he worked as a swingman for the San Francisco Giants.
Mark Vientos and J.D. Martinez supplied the only two runs of the game for the Mets (57-50), with Vientos hitting his 15th homer of the season off Festa (1-2) and Martinez going 2-for-4 with an RBI single.
Festa walked Brandon Nimmo with one out in the fourth inning and advanced him to second on a balk. A wild pitch moved him to third, putting him in position to score on Martinez’s base knock.
Festa had Vientos on a 1-2 count in the fifth, but the third baseman couldn’t fool him on a changeup. Vientos got one on the inside corner and drove it into the left-field stands to lead off the inning with a solo home run and put the Mets up, 2-0.
Festa, a rookie out of South Orange, NJ., who had friends and family on hand for just his third MLB start and fourth appearance, limited the Mets to only two runs on three hits and struck out six over five innings.
Newly-acquired right-handed reliever Ryne Stanek replaced Manaea in the eighth and put the tying run on base. Max Kepler hit a grounder to Pete Alonso at first base to lead off the inning and Alonso tried to flip it to Stanek at the bag for the out, but the barehanded lob was too high and Stanek came down hard on his ankle.
Stanek stayed in the game and got catcher Christian Vazquez to fly out to right field for the first out. But then he walked Brooks Lee. He retired pinch-hitter Trevor Larnach, and still, the Mets went to the bullpen for closer Edwin Diaz.
The right-hander struck out Byron Buxton to end the eighth and retired the side in order in the ninth for the four-out save (13) to help the Mets clinch the series.
NOTES
The Mets acquired three pitchers ahead of the trade deadline Tuesday and made several transactions to clear space on the roster. Right-hander Ty Adcock and catcher Logan Porter were designated for assignment to make room for right-handers Tyler Zuber and Huascar Brazobán. The club also acquired minor league left-hander Nicolas Carreno from the Pittsburgh Pirates in exchange for left-hander Josh Walker, who was designated over the weekend to make room for Stanek.
Right-hander Shintaro Fujinami cleared waivers and was assigned to Triple-A Syracuse.
