LOS ANGELES — The Mets have been getting more length from their starting pitchers, but they could use more. This week in Los Angeles has illustrated the necessity.
Monday night, the Mets didn’t have anyone left available in the bullpen after the 10th inning. They avoided trouble by defeating the Los Angeles Dodgers with manager Carlos Mendoza using the two pitchers he had left, left-hander Jose Castillo and right-hander Jose Butto, in the right spots. But it cost them right-hander Max Kranick, who was optioned to Triple-A Syracuse with the need for a fresh arm.
Then they ran out of arms again Tuesday night, resulting in a ninth-inning game-tying home run by Max Muncy to once again push the game into extra innings. Huascar Brazobán had thrown 32 pitches Monday night and missed with a sweeper against Muncy. Butto was called on again in the 10th and Freddie Freeman ended it with a walk-off double, though had Brandon Nimmo been able to make a play on the fly ball the result could have been different.
Credit Tylor Megill for giving the Mets six strong innings when back in the first, it looked as though he wouldn’t last long. But he looked like a different pitcher from the second inning on through the sixth, striking out seven and allowing only one baserunner on a two-out double.
“It’s kind of like those outings where things can go really sideways really early, throwing about 30-plus [pitches] in that first inning,” Megill said. “Being able to come back, air out the tank and go out into the sixth to get that chance to go and finish the game there, it’s big. It’s big for the bullpen to save an arm there. Obviously, it’s been pretty taxing on the bullpen. I’m not going to pitch for another five days, so let me go out there, let me get the pitch count up and save the bullpen.”
Monday night at the start of the series, Paul Blackburn could only go five innings. It was understandable, since he was coming off the injured list and hadn’t thrown more than about 89-85 in a rehab start, plus the Mets want to use him as a long arm out of the ‘pen later in the week. Sunday in New York, Clay Holmes pitched seven solid innings against the Rockies, which seems to be a rarity for the Mets these days.
The New York relief corps has thrown 227 innings, the ninth-most in baseball. Starters have thrown 317 1/3, about in the middle of the pack. The rotation is averaging about 5 2/3 innings per game, which isn’t terrible, but it isn’t great. It’s not entirely by design, but there have been times pitchers have come out of games saying they could have gone longer.
The Mets have their reasons for early hooks. Mendoza doesn’t typically like to leave starters in games past the fifth or sixth if they give up a lot of hard contact in those innings, since that contact can often be an indicator for home runs or extra-base hits. Sometimes it’s based on matchups, sometimes it’s pitch efficiency. None of them are wrong, and this is an unfortunate part of the modern-day game when true “aces” are only expected to face the order twice through instead of going three times.
But it has a domino effect on the bullpen.
The Mets should be in better shape over the last two games against the Dodgers with Edwin Diaz and Ryne Stanek available, and in Colorado over the weekend as well with Blackburn able to give them length in the middle of games.
But a few more seven-inning starts sure would make a difference.
“Once you’re in position to win a game with very little that you have, you just try to go for it,” Mendoza said.
