Thus far, the month of July has brought back the May Mets bullpen, which is very bad news. This week did see the return of Edwin Díaz to the bullpen, which helps a little bit, but Dedniel Núñez has been pretty much the only reliable option for Carlos Mendoza of late, but even he faltered this week. Everyone the Mets have cycled in and out of the back end of the bullpen has been awful, but José Buttó is likely to stick around and provide some utility in long relief. The fact is that the bullpen remains a mess and the Mets can’t operate this way much longer. David Stearns knows this, as evidenced by his recent moves, with perhaps more to come before the trade deadline. This week also saw the return of Christian Scott to the rotation, taking Tylor Megill’s place. The rotation has been solid lately, with Sean Manaea and José Quintana in particular hitting their stride.
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Sean Manaea was the Mets’ best performer on the pitching side this week, giving the Mets two quality starts. In Tuesday’s extra-inning victory, Manaea gave up just two runs—only one of them earned—through seven innings of work, striking out five batters and walking two. He followed that up with six shutout innings on Sunday, yielding only two hits and striking out six Pirates alongside three walks. Unfortunately Manaea did not get the win for either of these efforts because the Mets rallied late in both games, but the Mets still won both games he pitched this week.
Freshly promoted from Triple-A, José Buttó was the hero in long relief on Tuesday, tossing two desperately needed scoreless innings. He also earned the win on Saturday for 1 2⁄3 hitless innings of relief behind David Peterson, who failed to make it out of the fifth. Though the Mets have faltered in July, they’d be in an even worse position without Buttó’s performance this week.
After the Mets put up five runs in the top of the tenth on Tuesday, Dedniel Núñez ensured those runs went unanswered by putting up a zero in the bottom of the tenth to seal the deal. That represented Núñez’s second outing in as many days; on Monday he navigated through the seventh inning to protect a one-run lead, but surrendered the tying run in his second inning of work in the eighth. The Mets would bounce back to win that game in extras to pick up Núñez, who was the only reliever to appear in four games this week, as he has been one of the few arms Carlos Mendoza can rely on of late. Núñez earned his fifth hold of the season on Saturday with a 1-2-3 eighth inning with one strikeout. His outing the following day did not go as smoothly. He recorded the first two outs of the eighth inning with the Mets’ lead in tact, but allowed two baserunners who would eventually come around to score, charging him with two runs.
Edwin Díaz replaced Núñez on Sunday to try to get a four-out save, but walked the first batter he faced and then allowed a go-ahead RBI single to blow the save. However, he did bounce back to pitch a scoreless ninth inning and the Mets went on to rally in the bottom of the ninth to win the game, thus crediting Díaz with his third win of the season. Similarly, Díaz’s first outing back from suspension on Saturday started shaky when he hit the first batter he faced with a pitch, but he recovered to strike out the next batter and then induced a game-ending double play to notch his first save since returning.
Reed Garrett appeared in both games over the weekend, pitching a scoreless seventh inning in each of them to round out a clean sheet for the week. Garrett’s other outing was an unexpected one; he was forced into service in the bottom of the tenth in Monday’s game. The Mets had built a six-run lead in the top of the inning, but Tyler Jay was unable to close it out, giving up four runs (three earned due to the ghost runner) in the bottom of the frame to bring the Nationals within two. With the tying run at the plate, Garrett struck out Luis García Jr. to end the game. Jay was then immediately optioned to Triple-A with José Buttó taking his place on the roster.
Both Monday’s and Saturday’s games were started by David Peterson. Peterson pitched quite well on Monday, but not so great on Saturday. On Monday he scattered seven hits and limited the damage to just two runs over 6 1⁄3 innings of work to log a quality start. He struck out two batters and walked one batter in the outing. He only gave up two runs on Saturday as well, but as is often the case with Peterson, his pitch count ballooned on him and he was unable to get out of the fifth, exiting the game with one out in the inning. He struck out five and walked two batters, throwing 87 pitches in the process.
Jake Diekman earned the win on Monday, but it’s easy to forget that because of what happened later in the week. Diekman’s 1-2-3 ninth inning set the stage for the Mets’ big tenth inning on Monday, but he’s been awful since. The Mets got out to an early 5-0 lead in DC on Wednesday, but eventually they gave it all back and then some and Diekman was right at the center of it, taking the loss. He came in the game with two outs and nobody on in the seventh, with the Mets only leading by a skinny run at that point. He walked the first batter he faced and then gave up a game-tying RBI double and a go-ahead RBI single. His next outing was even worse. To be fair, he was put in a pretty tough spot, entering the game with the bases loaded and nobody out. But the worst case scenario transpired, as Diekman gave up a grand slam to the first batter he faced. The next two batters reached base as well, and Diekman was removed from the game without recording an out.
Most of those runs were charged to Luis Severino, whose at least okay outing unraveled so quickly in the seventh when he loaded the bases with nobody out and then made way for Diekman, who allowed all three runners to score, thus charging Severino with seven runs over six innings instead of four runs. Severino was likely going to take the loss either way, but it certainly was a hit to his ERA. Severino gave up three home runs in the outing; the Pirates would go on to hit seven total home runs in Saturday’s laugher.
Ty Adco*ck poured even more gasoline on the fire, coming in the game after Diekman and finishing the seventh, but then wearing it in the eighth when the Pirates dropped a six spot on him. Luis Torrens ended up recording the final out in the inning. Adco*ck also followed Diekman on Wednesday and gave up an insurance run in the eighth in the form of a Luis García Jr. solo shot. Adco*ck was optioned back to Triple-A after Friday’s disaster.
In his first game back with the big league team, Christian Scott was given a nice lead to work with in a nice change of pace from his previous stint in the majors, but unfortunately that lead did not hold and Scott was the one who gave much of it back. Scott was solid through five, but he gave up a three-run homer to who else but Luis García Jr. to bring the Nationals within a run with two outs in the sixth. That closed the book on Scott, who was charged with four total runs in 5 2⁄3 innings, striking out two batters and walking two batters.
Adam Ottavino then came in the came and held the one-run lead, recording the final out in the sixth and the first two outs of the seventh before Diekman coughed up the lead. That was Ottavino’s only appearance of the week week and he earned his 13th hold of the season.
The series finale between the Mets and Nationals on 4th of July was a pitcher’s duel and the Mets came out on the losing end. But José Quintana matched zeros with Jake Irvin for seven innings, giving up just four hits. He struck out one batter and walked three, doing his part by keeping the Nationals off the board for seven innings. Unfortunately Irvin was even better and outlasted Quintana, twirling eight scoreless frames. Ultimately, Adrian Houser gave up a go-ahead solo homer to Jesse Winker in the eighth and that was all she wrote. That was Houser’s only appearance for the week and he took a tough loss—his fifth of the season.
