The San Diego Padres came into a three-game series with the Mets as one of the hottest teams in baseball, firmly in the NL wild card race thanks to a 17-5 stretch.
With a 4-2 win in Wednesday’s matinee, the Mets proved they were hotter with a series win and 11 victories in 15 games since the MLB Trade Deadline.
"It feels gritty to me,” interim manager Andy Green said of his side’s play. “It feels like the kind of club that's just trying to scratch and claw, figure out a way to win a baseball game.”
In addition to the clawing, the series finale was marked by some fine cobbling together by the pitching staff as veteran Robert Stock combined with five men out of the bullpen to limit the visitors to just five hits and five walks and held them to 2-for-12 with RISP.
The bullpen, which saw several key departures just over a fortnight ago, received special commendation for allowing just a run in 4.2 innings with six strikeouts.
“Bullpen has been phenomenal,” Green said. “With this much turnover, to see guys step on the mound and handle tough situations again and again. [Jonathan] Pintaro getting the double-play ball, [Nate] Lavender coming in with an inherited runner again and getting out of it in nine pitches, which is more than he’s been throwing to get out of innings, which is crazy.
“And then [Daniel] Duarte’s been great, [Kodai] Senga closing it out. [Austin] Warren getting back into the mix, too; fell behind more than he wants to, but good stuff. I think the bullpen stands out.”
With 34 games to play, guys standing out and taking advantage of their opportunity is big ahead of another offseason of potentially big changes for the club.
“It hasn’t been the year that, maybe, we’ve all wanted,” first baseman Jared Young said after the game, “but in that you can find silver linings and players to really step up.”
Stepping up is something that Lavendar, Pintaro, and Duarte in the ‘pen have done, and the interim skipper said they are “squarely in the mix right now” for the organization moving forward.
“They’re incredibly well thought of,” Green said. “And there are some attributes to great relievers that all managers appreciate: they’re the same person in every set of circumstances… those guys have come into tough situations, and they find their way out of tough situations by doing what they do consistently.
“The moment hasn’t sped up the heartbeat at all. The human on the mound matters; they have to have good stuff, but [those guys] have shown the ability in those situations to be who they are.”
Green said that ability to keep your heartbeat from speeding up is “less common” than many think and leads to “tugging sliders or letting fastballs go up and away.”
And when you couple that attribute with their stuff, Green continued, that means the trio will continue to pitch meaningful innings this year and will have the club “continue to think about where it goes in the future.”
Lavender, 26, has been one to especially seize on his chance since making his big league debut earlier this month, as he stranded his seventh runner on Wednesday without allowing one to score and ran his scoreless streak to 6.1 innings with eight strikeouts.
While youth, with rookie Carson Benge powering a two-run home run to give the Mets a lead they wouldn't relinquish, has its way, the tone for the game was set by the 36-year-old starter giving the Mets 4.1 innings of one-run ball.
“To get four or five innings out of him, especially the day before an off day when you can go to your bullpen pretty quickly and feel confident about doing that, it’s great,” Green said. “He’s pitching meaningful innings for us; he’s doing a really good job.”
The journeyman Stock put it best into words what the next few weeks will mean for most of these Mets the rest of the way: "Every game is just me trying to prove that I can hang and I can stay. There's no one out there that wants it more than me, so I’m trying to put that into reality and results."
These games may not matter in the standings, but they mean a whole lot for their careers and for next season.
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