Overall, the pitching staff performed well last week with a couple of notable exceptions. Luis Severino pitched poorly on Tuesday but the Mets were able to overcome his bad performance and he also made up for it with a gem on Sunday. The Mets could not overcome Tylor Megill’s poor performance, however. On the relief side of things, Dedniel Núñez is the only reliever to receive poor marks for the week, but the Mets will now have to play the next week down a relief pitcher due to Edwin Díaz’s suspension.
:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/25506097/Screenshot_2024_06_25_163945.png "Mets Player Meter: Pitchers, June 17-23 (1)")
Tylor Megill put forth the worst performance on the pitching staff this week. He pitched a clunker on Saturday, coughing up five runs in a marathon first inning that ballooned his pitch count. He settled in after that and only gave up one additional run after that, but the damage had been done and he had thrown too many pitches to last beyond just three innings of work. He struck out six and walked three in the outing and took his fourth loss of the season.
Luis Severino followed the next day with the best starting pitching performance of the week. Across six shutout innings in Chicago, Severino struck out ten batters and walked none. He gave up just three hits and earned his fifth win of the season. Normally this performance would be under consideration for a fireball designation, but unfortunately Severino’s other outing this week was a poor one. On Tuesday he gave up six runs in 6 1⁄3 innings, striking out just one batter and giving up two home runs. The Rangers dropped a five spot on Severino in the fifth, which is the inning that really did him in. Luckily, the Mets were able to rally and win the game, avoiding Severino getting tagged with a loss.
The bullpen helped pave the way for the victory on both Tuesday and Sunday by holding the fort. Reed Garrett appeared in both games and pitched a scoreless inning in both of them. On Tuesday he earned his seventh win of the season, which leads all of baseball among relief pitchers. On Sunday he worked around a double to earn his seventh hold of the season. He struck out a batter in each outing.
Jake Diekman appeared in both games as well and also had a clean sheet in both of them. Diekman recorded the final two outs of the seventh inning in relief of Severino on Tuesday. On Sunday Diekman was called upon to record the final out of the game with a lefty due up. Craig Counsell pinch hit the righty Patrick Wisdom, but Diekman struck him out to secure the victory for the Mets, earning him his third save of the season.
Edwin Díaz was supposed to appear in both Tuesday’s and Sunday’s games. On Tuesday the Mets rallied in the ninth to take a one-run lead and he protected it in the bottom of the frame to earn his seventh save of the season. We all know what happened on Sunday. He came in for the save and failed a sticky stuff check, resulting in an ejection and ten-game suspension.
Drew Smith was then called upon to pitch the ninth on Sunday instead. He recorded the first two outs and then gave up a single up the middle to Dansby Swanson, which resulted in him giving way to Diekman to finish the game. Smith led the bullpen in appearances this week with four and three of them were good ones. He pitched the ninth inning of Monday’s and Friday’s blowout victories without incident. However, he was called upon in a higher leverage situation on Wednesday and did not deliver. He gave up a go-ahead two run homer to Leody Taveras in the seventh that proved to be the difference in the game and took the loss—his first of the season.
Sean Manaea started Wednesday’s game and was putting a nice little outing together until the sixth when he got in trouble. He gave up a single and a double that brought the Rangers within one with the tying run in scoring position. Carlos Mendoza then turned to Sean Reid-Foley to get the final out of the inning and Reid-Foley gave up a single to score the tying run before striking out the next batter to stop the bleeding there. That run was charged to Manaea, who all told gave up three runs in 5 2⁄3 innings, striking out six and walking three. Wednesday represented Reid-Foley’s only outing for the week before he was placed on the injured list with a recurrence of the shoulder impingement that had been plaguing him earlier in the season. The Mets appear hopeful that the Mets won’t be without Reid-Foley for long.
The Mets called up Danny Young when Reid-Foley was put on the IL and he was immediately called into service on Saturday after Megill’s abbreviated start. He pitched 1 1⁄3 hitless innings in his first outing back with the big club. Meanwhile, Adrian Houser took on the bulk of the innings in long relief on Saturday and gave up two runs—only one of them earned—in 3 2⁄3 innings of work, striking out two and walking one. Houser also pitched a scoreless eighth inning on Wednesday after the Mets fell behind, striking out two batters in the process.
Dedniel Núñez is the only reliever who had a bad week; he allowed a two-run homer to Christopher Morel in the bottom of the seventh on Sunday that cut the Mets’ lead in half and got the Cubs back in the game. Fortunately the Mets held on to win and Mark Vientos delivered a nice insurance run, so Núñez’s poor performance (which was his only outing for the week) was not particularly impactful. He has otherwise been very solid for the Mets, so hopefully this was just a speed bump.
With Díaz sidelined, Adam Ottavino will likely be filling the closer’s role for the Mets once more on a temporary basis. Ottavino had himself a good week, pitching 3 2⁄3 scoreless innings across two outings. He pitched two innings in Monday’s laugher, striking out three batters and yielding just one hit across the two frames. He contributed 1 2⁄3 innings to Friday’s lopsided victory, striking out another three batters in that outing.
David Peterson was the beneficiary of ample run support on Monday and he had a very nice outing, giving up just two runs on four hits through six innings of work. He struck out six batters and walked three en route to his third win of the season. Similarly, José Quintana was able to cruise on Friday thanks to the Mets touching up one of the National League’s best pitchers in Shōta Imanaga. Quintana struck out an impressive eight batters across 6 1⁄3 innings of work while walking only one. He gave up just one run on four hits in the outing. Quality starts all around for the Mets’ lefty starters this week.
