Fresh off the All-Star break with a fully rested set of arms, the Mets' bullpen still struggled on Friday night in their 8-4 loss to the Cincinnati Reds.
Choosing to go with Sean Manaea, who is not yet totally stretched out after a lengthy rehab process, to start the second half meant New York would need to rely on its bullpen out of the gate to get late outs.
After Manaea went the first four innings, looking good in the process, manager Carlos Mendoza turned to Alex Carillo in the fifth inning as the first reliever out of the bullpen with the Mets leading, 2-1. That lead quickly turned into a deficit after Carillo surrendered a two-run homer to Matt McLain.
"I needed to cover five innings there," Mendoza said. "We’re giving these guys a look here and it just didn’t happen today with him."
Still a one-run game after getting through the fifth, Carillo was asked to go back out for the sixth, but things got worse for the right-hander. Carillo allowed two more home runs in the inning, a solo shot by Austin Hays (his second of the game) and a two-run blast by Tyler Stephenson that put the game to bed.
Making just his third career appearance and first at Citi Field, Carillo went 1.1 innings and allowed five earned runs on three hits (all homers) and two walks. The 28-year-old mentioned "trying to do too much" in his home debut as a reason why he didn't have it on Friday night.
"The fastball still did its thing and they just put the bat out there," he said. "They’re a good hitting team. These are big league hitters, they’re gonna hit home runs, but when it comes to walks, that’s not acceptable on my behalf. Yanking the slider a little bit, changeup just staying away and just not competing as I should be."
Down a run in the sixth inning with his entire bullpen at his disposal, Mendoza's decision to stick with Carillo, a rookie who made his major league debut on July 8, was a head-scratcher.
"I needed to get a couple out of him," the skipper said. "It just didn’t happen today."
Overall, even with Brooks Raley getting activated off the IL, which certainly helps, the Mets' bullpen is shaky. Brandon Waddell, another unproven arm that has helped out in certain situations this season, mopped up and allowed two earned runs in 3.2 innings while giving up four hits and three walks.
Jose Buttó pitched a scoreless inning with Triple-A Syracuse on Friday and his return will ease some of the burden, but for New York to be successful, it will need to get length out of its starters. Until then, Mendoza will have to continue to go with relievers who may lack the experience of pitching in high-leverage situations.
"Guys will step up," he said. "We feel comfortable with the guys that we have back there. Today was one of those nights where Carillo didn’t have it. But overall, we will continue to give opportunities to some of these guys… we’ll continue to evaluate the situation here as we’re trying to win baseball games, obviously."
Read the full article here