Neil Miller/TheNYExtra.com
Met pitching baffles the Pirates for the Second Straight Night
When Met manager Carlos Mendoza arrived at Citifield last night, he knew he could not use Edwin Diaz, Brooks Raley or Adam Ottavino for a third straight night so the depth of the Met bullpen would be severely tested. But this Met bullpen has proven in the early going this year they present a variety of looks that share one common skill–they throw strikes and challenge hitters.
So after Jose Quintana hurled 5 innings of one-run ball the Amazins had to get twelve outs from that relief corps and those players said to the manger no problem skipper. And they had to toss four scoreless frames because despite the solid effort of Quintana, they trailed 1-0 in this contest.
Reid Garret strolled to the mound and gave the team 2 innings in which he struck out 6 Pirates giving his teammates a chance to rally offensively which they did by plating 3 runs in the 7th inning that once again illustrated the depth of this roster. The big hit in that inning gave off the bat of Joey Wendle who had to enter the game because Bret Baty was forced to leave with a sore hamstring issue, on a RBI double that gave the Mets the lead after a Pirate balk had tied the game at 1. Jeff McNeil followed with an RBI double but the Mets still had to get 6 outs from a bullpen that was severely undermanned on this night.
Once again, no problem as Jorge Lopez and Drew Smith retired 6 Pirates in a row striking out 3 of them to seal a 3-1 win that put the Mets 1 game over 500 as they have now won 4 straight series eradicating an awful 0-5 start to the season. And I have learned a few things about this team during the past 2 weeks.
They took full view for the poor start but never wavered in the process in place for game preparation and beat some teams that were winning before they played those teams. They said all the right things but continued to believe in each other no matter what noise pollution they were hearing from outside the clubhouse. That is the exact formula in this sport on how you can turn a season around. They are 9-3 since the 0-5 stat and even in the 3 games they lost, they have shown a never quit attitude than any Met fan loves to see.
The offense still struggles at times but this Met bullpen is performing at a high level with a 3.10 ERA which is tops in the National League. And no Met reliever in franchise history has had more strikeouts in his first 4 appearances of the season than Reid Garrett who has been a key addition to this team.
More and more, we are seeing how the depth of this roster plays a huge role in keeping this team in the game and then putting that game in the W column with a plethora of late-inning drama. That is how you go from 0-5 to 9-8 in 12 short days And they will try to make it 10 wins in their last 13 contests as Luis Severino takes the hill at Citi today.
