The Mets have received a nice boost from their young arms over the past few games, but they are going to need their veterans to step up down the stretch.
Tuesday was Sean Manaea’s opportunity to turn the tide; however, the struggles continued for the left-hander. Manaea retired the first two batters he faced, but then the next three Phillies reached safely, capped off by a Nick Castellanos two-run double down the left field line.
He picked off a batter to almost work through a clean second, but with two outs, Otto Kemp and Harrison Bader lifted back-to-back solo shots to make it a four-run ballgame.
Manaea showed some frustration in between innings, but after having a discussion with Carlos Mendoza down in the tunnel, he came back and settled into a nice groove.
“I just said, screw it, can’t get any worse. Just let go and started to pitch,” Manaea said.
With the new mentality, he retired the next seven batters he faced before issuing a leadoff walk in the fifth — that runner would advance into scoring position — but was stranded when Bryce Harper struck out to end the inning and Manaea's night.
His strong finish closed his line with four runs allowed on five hits and a walk over five innings of work.
“He was showing a little frustration, but you have to fight,” Mendoza said. “I’m glad that he was able to respond to it there. I was proud of him for that. I think that’s the messaging for all of us right now, we’re going through it, but we have to fight.”
Certainly a strong stretch to build off of, but overall still wasn’t good enough.
Manaea has now allowed four or more earned runs in six of his last seven outings, which has brought his ERA up to an ugly mark of 5.76 for the season.
Still, the Mets will continue to lean on him as a key piece in their rotation down the stretch.
“This is a guy that we’re counting on,” the skipper said. “He was huge for us all year last year, I know it’s been a struggle for him of late and obviously he is frustrated too, but we’re going to need this guy — we brought him here to make an impact.
“Our job is to continue to help him. Obviously, the last three innings tonight were a lot better; hopefully, he can take some positives out of this outing from that.”
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