A quick review of how the Mets’ pitchers fared over the past week.
I regret to inform you all that the run of spotless pitching meters is at an end. It was bound to happen eventually, but it was fun while it lasted. The week started off okay, but then the Mets were walked off twice in the span of three days. Yesterday’s game was the worst day of all for the pitching; the Mets blew a six-run lead in the late innings, which can be laid almost entirely at the feet of the bullpen, which has now lost a key piece in A.J. Minter for an undetermined amount of time. The starting rotation had a very positive week as a unit. For those keeping track at home, the Mets still lead the league in staff ERA (2.53) and starting pitching ERA (2.36), but the bullpen has fallen to fifth on the ERA list (2.76).
Let’s peel the Band Aid off. The Mets were walked off twice by the Nationals over the weekend in DC and Ryne Stanek was right at the center of both losses, earning a poop emoji for the week. Stanek has been the de facto “second in command” to perform closer duties when Edwin Díaz is unavailable and this is the first week where that strategy proved disastrous. On Friday night, with the Mets having come from behind to take a 4-3 lead in the eighth, Stanek gave up a triple to Dylan Crews to lead off the ninth on what was a difficult play, but catchable. José Tena singled to bring him in and tie the game. Stanek got Jacob Young to ground into a force out for the first out of the inning before A.J. Minter came in to face the lefties at the top of the Nationals order. Minter got C.J. Abrams to ground out, but gave up a walk-off RBI single to James Wood; that run was charged to Stanek. Yesterday, the Mets were walked off again, but it was even more brutal because they held such a large lead until the late innings. By the time Stanek came in the game for the ninth, the Mets were up by just one run. To be fair to Stanek, this ninth inning was mostly poor defense by the Mets. Alex Call doubled to lead off the inning on a ball Juan Soto once again should have caught, but lost in the sun. With one out, C.J. Abrams singled in the tying run. Stanek then walked James Wood and the winning run scored on a throwing error by Pete Alonso. Stanek was charged with one run, but really neither of the runs should have been earned. But he still didn’t pitch particularly well. Stanek’s only other outing this week was in Tuesday’s victory, in which he pitched a clean eighth inning despite walking two batters.
I already mentioned that A.J. Minter gave up the walk-off single to James Wood on Friday. Minter’s week started off well; he earned his sixth hold of the season with a scoreless seventh inning in Tuesday’s game. But then came Friday’s disaster and Minter came out for a second straight day to face the top of the Nationals order in the eighth inning on Saturday. He retired C.J. Abrams, but then left the game flanked by the trainer. We now know Minter has a lat strain and it is simply a question of how severe it is and how much time he will miss. But that is a massive blow to a bullpen that is already a bit overtaxed.
With Minter sidelined, Danny Young is now the bullpen’s primary (and right now, only) left-handed reliever. Luckily, Young had a really good week this week. He comported himself well against the fearsome left-handers in the middle of the Phillies’ lineup, logging back-to-back strikeouts of Bryce Harper and Kyle Schwarber in the seventh inning of a tie game on Wednesday. He then earned his fourth hold of the season on Saturday after giving up a leadoff single to Abrams in the sixth, but then going on to strike out the next three batters he faced.
Clay Holmes earned the win on Saturday for five scoreless innings of work. That may not seem like a lot, but it is impressive considering Holmes endured a delay to the start of the game and then another 45-minute rain delay mid-inning. Holmes scattered four hits, struck out two, and didn’t walk any batters in the outing. He is rocking a 2.64 ERA on the season.
After Young’s clean sixth on Saturday, Reed Garrett contributed a scoreless seventh. Garrett is one of the few relievers to have a clean sheet for the week. On Monday, Garrett protected a two-run lead by recording the final two outs of the sixth inning in relief of Tylor Megill. On Friday, Garrett earned a hold for pitching a scoreless bottom of the eighth inning after the Mets took the lead in the top of the frame before disaster struck for Stanek in the ninth. Garrett’s nine holds for the season lead the team.
Kodai Senga started Friday’s game and did not factor into the decision. Senga was shaky early, but settled in to ultimately pitch six solid innings. He gave up two runs on six hits, striking out five batters and walking two. It wasn’t pretty, but it was a quality start and should have been enough for the Mets to win the game.
Similarly, Tylor Megill did enough for the Mets to win both his starts, but they only won one of them. On Monday, Megill struck out a whopping ten Phillies in 5 1⁄3 scoreless innings of work. He did walk four batters, but only gave up one hit. That performance earned him his third win of the season. Megill was excellent yesterday as well, but probably got pushed a little too far. Through six innings, Megill had given up a solo home run to Dylan Crews and nothing else. With the Mets holding a sizable lead at that point and the bullpen on fumes, Carlos Mendoza sent Megill back out for the seventh and that is when things began to go south for the Mets. Luis García Jr. doubled to lead off the inning. Megill bounced back to strike out the next batter, but then gave up an RBI single to Josh Bell and that ended his day. In 6 1⁄3 innings, Megill struck out nine batters and walked only one.
But Megill would be charged with three runs in total because José Buttó came in and poured gasoline on the fire. Buttó does not do well with inherited runners and yesterday was no exception. He struck out the first batter he faced, but then allowed back-to-back singles to plate his inherited runner, charged to Megill. Then, the dagger: a three-run homer by the backup catcher Riley Adams brought the Nationals within a run. Buttó escaped the inning with the Mets still in the lead, but certainly helped set the stage for the brutal walk-off loss. If that was Buttó’s only outing this week, he’d certainly get poop emoji’d. But, he was good in both of his other outings this week. He closed out Tuesday’s victory against the Phillies with a scoreless ninth inning. Buttó also pitched a scoreless eighth inning on Wednesday to keep the game tied, but he was given some assistance in the form of a beautiful outfield assist by Juan Soto to nab Nick Castellanos at the plate carrying the go-ahead run.
Likely forgotten among all of the negatives to take away from Sunday’s game: Huascar Brazobán’s scoreless eighth inning protecting what was suddenly a one-run lead. That earned Brazobán his fourth hold of the season. Brazobán didn’t have a clean sheet this week, but he was pretty darn good. He pitched a scoreless sixth inning in Tuesday’s victory and followed that up by retiring all three batters he faced on Wednesday. The only blemish on Brazobán’s record this week is that he gave up an insurance run to the Nationals in the seventh inning on Friday. Still, he holds a sparkling 1.56 ERA for the season.
Edwin Díaz earned the save in the Mets’ only victory in the Nationals series thus far on Saturday—his seventh save of the season. He struck out three in that outing and looked sharp, which was a relief considering he left Wednesday’s extra-inning win with hip discomfort. Before the hip forced him from the game on Wednesday, Díaz pitched a 1-2-3 ninth inning and recorded the first out in the tenth, but did allow the ghost runner to score on an RBI single by Nick Castellanos. Despite allowing a three-run home run to Bryson Stott on Monday, Díaz hung on to record the save in that game as well.
Two of the runs on Stott’s homer were charged to Max Kranick, who pitched two scoreless innings of relief and with the Mets up five was being pushed for a third inning. But it turns out that was a bridge too far. Kranick failed to record an out in the ninth, necessitating the use of Díaz. Kranick was ultimately charged with three runs in a line that looks much uglier than his actual performance. Kranick bounced back in a massive way on Wednesday when he was forced into service after Díaz left the game. Kranick stranded his inherited runner and held the Phillies to just the one run in the tenth, helping to set the stage for the walk-off in the bottom of the tenth. That earned Kranick his second win of the season.
David Peterson started Wednesday’s extra-inning victory and did a good job limiting the damage, but did not last very long in the game. He yielded just two runs over 5 1⁄3 innings of work, but dealt with traffic on the base paths nearly every inning, giving up eight hits in the outing. He struck out two batters and walked one. It wasn’t Peterson’s most commanding performance, but it was enough for the Mets to win the game.
Similarly, Griffin Canning scattered seven hits over five innings of work on Tuesday, giving up just one run. He struck out five and walked one in the outing. The Mets gave him a little more run support than Peterson by getting to Cristopher Sánchez early and he earned his third win of the season.