It was a rough stretch for the New York Mets’ starters from June 15 through June 28, while the bullpen kept doing its job. The rotation got knocked around over and over, and David Peterson - the longest-tenured Met - was moved out before he could add another bad outing in orange and blue. Freddy Peralta had the kind of start that can sting a pitcher twice, and Nolan McLean flashed ace stuff one night before getting knocked back the next.
Peralta’s low point came against the Philadelphia Phillies, when he was tagged for 10 runs on 10 hits in what turned into a 15-3 loss for the Mets. Kyle Schwarber blasted two home runs in the same inning, both nearly identical shots into the upper deck.
Bryce Harper also hit for the cycle that night, collecting his home run, double and single against Peralta. To make it worse, Brandon Sproat - the young pitcher New York sent out in the deal to land Peralta in the offseason - threw six shutout innings with 10 strikeouts for the Milwaukee Brewers just three nights later.
Peralta did bounce back in his next start against the Cubs, holding them to zero earned runs over 5.2 innings, but the defense didn’t help him there either, as Chicago scored three unearned runs while he was on the mound.
Sean Manaea has had a similar problem lately. After working his way back into solo starts without an opener, he got mixed results in outings against the Cubs and Phillies.
In both games, errors made life harder and helped turn those starts into losses. Manaea allowed two earned runs against Chicago and three against Philadelphia, but each time an error also led to an unearned run.
The veteran deserved a cleaner night behind him.
McLean, meanwhile, showed both sides of what makes him so intriguing. He was dominant against the Cincinnati Reds, throwing seven shutout innings with nine strikeouts.
Then the Cubs lit him up, with Michael Busch and Dansby Swanson both going deep in a six-earned-run performance that ended in a 10-3 loss. McLean wasn’t the only one Chicago punished that night.
Jonathan Pintaro also got hit hard, surrendering a grand slam to Swanson before he was eventually sent to Triple-A.
Kodai Senga’s return from the IL has looked a lot like the version that left - not especially sharp. He allowed four runs in four innings in a loss to the Reds, then got tagged for seven more against the Cubs, pushing his ERA briefly above 10.00.
He came out of the bullpen against the Phillies and was better, giving up two runs over five innings with four strikeouts, but those two runs came on a go-ahead Schwarber homer that held up the rest of the way. Cionel Pérez opened that game and tossed a scoreless inning.
Perez has now strung together three straight scoreless outings over his last 5.1 innings, though he had given up four runs in the two games before that run. Tobias Myers, who has been paired with Senga multiple times, kept struggling and has now allowed 14 earned runs over his last 8.2 innings.
Christian Scott returned from the IL and gave the Mets a solid line against the Phillies, allowing two earned runs over 4.2 innings while striking out six. A.J.
Minter followed with one and a third scoreless innings in the 6-2 win. Minter has been piling up value in relief, with five scoreless outings over the last two weeks, and he still hasn’t allowed an earned run in 12.1 innings this season.
Luke Weaver has been even more ridiculous. He stretched his scoreless streak to 23 innings, the longest active streak in MLB.
Five of those innings came in the last two weeks, and three of his outings included striking out the side. Devin Williams picked up a save and made four appearances without allowing an earned run, though the Mets’ defense still let four unearned runs score behind him.
Huascar Brazobán also kept rolling, giving up one run over six innings. That run ended up putting the Phillies ahead for good in a 2-1 loss, but his ERA still sits at a sparkling 1.94.
In Other News...
Mets Make Another Desperate Upside Bet As Deadline Pressure Builds
With the trade deadline closing in, the Mets have added another name to the organizational mix, signing Christopher Morel to a minor-league deal and sending him to Triple-A Syracuse. It is the sort of low-cost move clubs make when they are trying to keep as many paths open as possible, especially for a player whose tools have long made evaluators dream a little bigger than the risk profile might suggest.
Morel brings real power upside, with 42 homers in his first 220 career games and a 26-homer season in 2023, but the swing-and-miss issues are just as much a part of the package. He struck out 38.4% of the time with the Marlins this year and carries a 30.7% career strikeout rate, so the Mets are betting on raw impact more than reliability as they look for any extra edge before the deadline arrives. [Read more 🡒]
This Forgotten 1986 Mets Trade Has One Of The Strangest Twists
The 1986 Mets made plenty of headline-grabbing moves on their way to a championship, but some of the quieter deals have become strange footnotes in hindsight. One of them came on June 30, when New York sent Ed Lynch to the Cubs and got Dave Liddell and Dave Lenderman back, a swap that barely registered at the time but still sits inside the teams most memorable season.
Lynch had appeared in just one game for the Mets that year before moving on, yet he is still counted as part of that World Series club. The return ended up carrying its own odd wrinkle a few years later, when Liddell surfaced again in Mets history in a way few would have predicted, leaving this old trade as one of those roster moves that feels more like a trivia question than a transaction. [Read more 🡒]
Mets Suddenly Have A Tough Outfield Call They Cant Ignore
Carson Benge and A.J. Ewing have given the Mets something they badly needed in a season full of uneven stretches: two rookies who look like they belong. Benge has been one of the more productive first-year hitters in the majors, while Ewing has paired steady offense with reliable defense in the outfield, giving New York a pair of young players who have handled the jump to big league pitching and the everyday grind without looking overwhelmed.
The timing, though, is what makes this such a tricky development for the Mets. Benge settled in after an early adjustment period and has been consistently productive since, while Ewing has kept stacking useful at-bats and innings in the field, but the organization is also moving toward a point where there may not be enough room to keep both rookies in the mix every day. For a club trying to sort out its future while still chasing results now, that kind of decision is becoming harder to postpone. [Read more 🡒]