Sean Manaea provides latest poor outing in Mets' mound of trouble
Mets pitcher Sean Manaea walks to the dugout after being pulled against the Detroit Tigers in the fifth inning on Monday in Detroit. Credit: AP/Paul Sancya
While it’s hard to quantify exactly what a $765 million slugger should be doing at this time of year — he’s the first, of course — Juan Soto gave us a pretty good idea Monday in carrying the Mets to a bruising 10-8 victory over the Tigers at Comerica Park.
Soto tied a career best with six RBIs, and his fourth-inning grand slam, with two outs and two strikes, was the first of his 36 homers this season to come with more than one Met on base. He later hustled for a two-run triple, another first in Game No. 138. He is hitting .423 (11-for-26) with RISP since Aug. 1 and has a 1.446 OPS in those situations.
But as the Mets worked hard on Labor Day to ultimately KO the Tigers, the team with the AL’s best record, you couldn’t help but wonder if this Soto-powered victory machine will be a sustainable model for September and beyond. Even Soto — the generational talent, Scott Boras’ beloved Centurion — can’t keep doing most of the heavy lifting by himself.
Nor can the Mets’ offense, which has been raking for the past month, constantly be put in the position of having to cover for a pitching staff that provides the security of nervously watching a lit fuse on a nightly basis.
Lost amid the Mets and Tigers trading body blows for three hours was Sean Manaea flaming out after 3 2⁄3 innings — his opening pitch was smashed for a 429-foot homer by Jahmai Jones — and the bullpen’s resident BP thrower, Ryan Helsley, being trusted for a whopping total of five pitches, four of which were whacked.
The Mets lost to the Marlins on Saturday despite Soto’s two home runs, and after dropping three of four to Miami, it’s obvious they need a few other key pieces functioning at a higher level, namely the guys on the mound.
The Mets led the majors in a number of top offensive categories during August but finished with an 11-17 record for the month, and that was because of a handful of disturbing trends that have plagued this team for a while now.
Heading into Monday, the Mets were 28-40 since June 13 for a .412 winning percentage that was tied for MLB’s fifth-lowest during that span. Their 23 blown-lead losses were the second-most to the Reds’ 24 and the rotation’s 318 innings were the fewest of any team in that stretch.
Manaea, just like Kodai Senga a day earlier, did zero Monday to alleviate the Mets’ biggest concerns. He was hammered for eight hits and five runs, including a pair of long homers, and already had thrown 83 pitches when manager Carlos Mendoza hurried to retrieve him in the fourth.
Monday marked the sixth time in his 10 starts this season that Manaea has failed to complete five innings. Since Aug. 1, he has a 7.81 ERA with a 1.48 WHIP and .305 opponents’ batting average. That’s basically “non-competitive,” to borrow a phrase that Mendoza repeatedly has used to describe Senga’s outings recently.
At the start of this season, Manaea and Senga were supposed to be the Mets’ co-aces. Now they’re barely hanging on to rotation spots, and Manaea — the team’s big winter pitching splurge at a cost of $75 million — sounds just as lost as Senga.
“I feel like I’m doing all the right things,” he said. “But it’s just not working out right now.”
Mendoza remained non-committal about Senga making his next start, and the manager should feel just as hesitant with Manaea. The Mets seem to have an exit ramp with Manaea, considering it’s well known that he’s pitching with “loose bodies” in his left elbow, but he dismissed that as an issue. As for what the future holds for Manaea and Senga, Mendoza put on his best poker face Monday afternoon.
“Obviously they’re frustrated, and they know they’re better,” he said. “It’s our job to help them.”
Or mitigate the damage. The Mets are 3-7 in Manaea’s starts, and his short start left the bullpen in tatters for the rest of the week. On Monday, Mendoza had to use six — six! — relievers to survive a game in which they scored 10 runs, and Edwin Diaz had to be called on for a four-out save.
That’s criminal, and two of the usual suspects were responsible. Ryne Stanek airmailed his second pitch to the backstop, gifting the Tigers a run that tied the score at 6 in the fifth inning. Former Cardinals closer Helsley, who makes every Mets fan see red upon his entrance, either hasn’t solved his tipping problem or is just plain hittable now.
The Tigers kept pouncing on him early, with Riley Greene smacking a 101-mph fastball for a leadoff double in the seventh and Zach McKinstry drilling a first-pitch slider for an RBI single that ended Helsley’s brief cameo. That upped his ERA to 9.58 in 12 appearances with the Mets and further dented the manager’s faith, as Mendoza raced from the dugout to bring in Brooks Raley after only five pitches.
“I wouldn’t necessarily say the tipping,” Mendoza said. “I think it comes down to execution. Today they were aggressive and got him.”
Thanks to Soto, and also a three-hit, two-RBI performance by Luis Torrens, the Mets were able to survive another round of pitching shenanigans in Motown. Now they had better come up with some solutions, too.
David Lennon is an award-winning columnist, a voter for baseball's Hall of Fame and has covered six no-hitters, including two perfect games.
