When Luis Severino joined the Mets this season, his career was in trouble as the Yankees mismanaged his progress and simply cut bait as he became a free agent. The Mets came calling offering him a contract and I can see when I was in Port St Lucie during spring training he appeared relaxed as he had a new lease on life.
Overall he has pretty much been a very dependable starter and at times has shown flashes of brilliance on the mound. Saturday at Citi, was one of those days as he threw a complete game shutout allowing only 4 harmless hits striking out 8 and only walking one batter. His pitch count was low going to the final frame and manager Carlos Mendoza was sure to give him the ninth after two conversations–one between innings and one during a mound visit.
To give the team a complete game shutout–the first for the team since 2021–during the dog days of August entrenched in a playoff race simply can not be overstated. It gave key bullpen choices a reset of day which is very rare this time of the year.
The Mets got all the offense they needed with home runs from Francisco Lindor and Pete Alonso–who cracked his 100th homer at Citi Field. I know in the off-season the Mets will have to make a tough decision on his Met future but it can not be dismissed that he is 1 homer shy at this moment of matching Mike Piazza’s Met career home run total. But on this day, the story is Luis Severino.
I did not cover his Yankee career but I have to think the coaching he has received here fits more into breeding a super season. The Mets pride themselves on playing to the pitcher’s strength and nobody in the entire sport does that better than Met pitching coach Jeremy Hefner. That philosophy fits with the Carlos Mendoza approach of pitchers “trusting their stuff.”
But the all the credit really goes to Severino. He needed a change of scenery but also worked so hard in the off-season on refining his stuff. He also viewed this as a second chance and has embraced the changes in his game. And the Met playoff journey could make that trip an amazing one for him if the team gets to the post-season. Severino combined with a healthy Senga could be a real tough 1-2 punch for any Met playoff opponent to handle especially knowing Edwin Diaz is in that bullpen to make the game even shorter for the offense to muster any run scoring innings.
