☀️ Good Morning:
I’m starting to think it doesn’t matter who climbs on the mound at Citi Field, it could be me, you or Grimace, and they are going to throw shutout innings and give the offense a chance to win every game.
What was supposed to be an “eh, we’ll see what happens tonight” game, with Brandon Waddell tasked with carrying the majority of innings turned, into a contestMets fans left with a thought they never imagined to have when the night began: damn, we wasted a Brandon Waddell performance!
The Amazins have done a lot of things right this year, but one thing they can’t seem to get the hang of, at least consistently, is hitting with runners in scoring position.
On Wednesday, they left 13 men on base, including the tying and go-ahead runs in the final frame, finishing the night 0-for-10 with runners in scoring position.
We will talk about the decision to use the recently called up Chris Devenski for an extra inning, but it’s hard to win baseball games when you don’t hit with runners on base.
The Mets can quickly forget about this loss by winning the rubber game this afternoon.
☕️ Grab your coffee for your morning dose of Mets Fix!
👈 Who needs lefties?
A day after learning A.J. Minter might need season-ending surgery, the Mets placed Danny Young on the IL with a left elbow sprain.
Anytime you hear “elbow” and “IL,” you worry. And sure enough, Carlos Mendoza acknowledged on Wednesday that Tommy John surgery is a possibility for Young.
For some Mets fans, this is welcome news, not because they would wish injury on a player, but because Young’s lack of optionality and inherent left handedness had cemented his place in a bullpen that could use some reinforcements.
That said, it obviously leaves Mendoza without a lefty reliever on the 40-man roster. The closest options pitching in Triple-A are Anthony Gose and Génesis Cabrera, two pitchers whom don’t exactly inspire a lot of confidence, although Cabrera has worked on some tweaks in the Mets’ pitching lab that could eventually pay dividends.
🔼 For now (for a day?), right-hander Chris Devenski has been recalled to take Young’s place (Devenski found a spot on the 40-man roster after Brooks Raley was transferred to the 60-day IL).
The 34-year-old, Devenski, spent the past two seasons in Tampa Bay’s organization, appearing in 24 major-league games between 2023 and 2024. He has been solid for Triple-A Syracuse this year, pitching to a 1.93 ERA over nine appearances.
Importantly, Devenski is a reverse splits guy. He has been dominant against lefties in a small sample with Syracuse, a trend that he has maintained throughout his career, thanks to a plus changeup that has induced a 36% whiff rate in the majors.
Mets fans saw the effectiveness of his changeup against lefties in the eighth inning on Wednesday. He used it to retire the three lefties he faced in the frame, with the lone righty (Eugenio Suárez) hitting a double.
The problem was when he was asked to pitch a second inning in the ninth. Rather than using Edwin Díaz or Reed Garrett (neither of whom have pitched since Saturday) to preserve a one-run deficit, Mendoza stuck with Devenski. The new callup saved the high leverage arms, but lost his own command against a string of righties and gave Arizona the two runs they needed to hold of the Mets in the bottom of the inning.
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