Trevor Williams struggled in a no-win scenario for the Mets
Trevor Williams allowed four runs in two innings and the Mets offense was quieted in the desert
What’s Up with the Mets? ⚾️
The Mets lost to the Diamondbacks by a score of 5-2 in Phoenix on Saturday (box)
Buck Showalter was forced to employ a bullpen game due to a lack of available starting pitchers - Trevor Williams started and allowed four runs in two innings
The Mets mustered just two extra-base hits on the night, seven hits in total
Jacob deGrom (Stress reaction in shoulder) underwent an MRI on his shoulder, and while the Mets hope deGrom can resume throwing, they won’t have the final results until Monday
Taijuan Walker will pitch sim game Monday, and likely be activated for a start next Friday or Saturday against the Phillies
The Mets plan have David Peterson make his next big league start in their doubleheader against the Braves
RHP Sean Reid-Foley left Saturday’s game with an apparent leg injury
Michael Conforto underwent shoulder surgery last week - he will miss the entire 2022 season (New York Post)
Roster Moves 📰
RHP Adonis Medina was recalled from Triple-A Syracuse
LHP David Peterson was optioned to Triple-A Syracuse
Who’s Hot🔥
After snapping a 12-game on-base streak on Wednesday against the Giants, Francisco Lindor has a new three-game hitting streak and is hitting .305/.408/.576 this season
After a rough start, LHP Joely Rodriguez is unscored upon in his last three relief appearances
Today’s Game 🗓
Match-up: Mets (11-5) @ Diamondbacks (6-9)
Where: Chase Field - Phoenix, Arizona
Starters: RHP Tylor Megill (2-0, 2.20 ERA) vs. LHP Madison Bumgarner (0-1, 1.38 ERA)
When: 4:10 PM EDT
Where to Watch: WPIX
The Mets and bullpen games aren’t a good mix 📝
Whenever the Mets are planning on employing a bullpen game, I am always reminded of the Daniel Murphy and Todd Hundley experiments.
Because, well, most of the time, asking this Mets bullpen to successfully navigate a bullpen game seem to go the way those Murphy and Hundley experiments went in left field all those years ago.
Make no mistake - the Mets were in a real bind on Saturday, and they simply had no choice to go with a bullpen game. Due to the rainout and a doubleheader against the Giants earlier this week, the Mets pitching staff was thrown further into disarray this week. After needing both Tylor Megill and Max Scherzer on Tuesday night for their doubleheader, the Mets peeled through their five available starting pitchers in four days leading up to Saturday night’s game against the Diamondbacks, forcing their hand to use Trevor Williams as their opener with hopes he could give the Mets three innings.
On top of that, the Mets were without both Trevor May or Edwin Díaz after taking on heavy workloads on Friday night.
But if there was any time on the schedule the bullpen game could fall, yesterday was the day as it’s better against a second-division team and a team the manager could expect the offense would out-perform the deficiency on the mound.
Unfortunately for Williams and the Mets, they fell into a pretty big hole early and the offense was not able to gain any momentum against Diamondbacks starter Humbero Castellanos, who was effective against the Mets for five innings on Saturday night.
Williams’ slider was ineffective from the jump, although he kept going to that pitch but he just never found the feel for it in his two-plus innings of work. He was attempting to back foot the slider but just couldn’t get ahead or get enough swings and misses with that pitch, resulting in a lot of deep counts and predictable fastballs.
“The results weren’t there,” Williams explained after the game. “ The results weren’t there and only going two innings, knowing I was on a limited pitch count hurts the bullpen.”
To be fair, even with the addition of Adonis Medina ahead of last night’s game, the Mets bullpen simply isn’t designed to withstand such a scenario. Most clubs don’t have that design. They’re not like the Rays (who, by the way, went with a bullpen game against the Red Sox on Saturday and didn’t allow a hit for nine innings) or the Yankees, two teams with superior bullpens and almost designed for these kinds of rainy days.
On their best day, the Mets bullpen is going to be hit-or-miss and that’s when the parts are used properly and in the right situations - the wild card of a bullpen game simply puts the Mets in to difficult of a position to overcome much of the time, even in a game against a second-division club.
In no way am I intending to indict or criticize the Mets when I say any of this. They were put in a tough spot by having to start Williams (the correct choice in this case) but he had only thrown 1 2/3 IP total this season to begin with and there was no opportunity to send him to the minors to stretch him out. That he didn’t have it made the situation that much harder for Showalter to navigate.
It was a no-win scenario for the Mets on Saturday - all they could do is hope the offense could pick up the pitching staff. And, it didn’t.
Fortunately for the Mets, it would appear Taijuan Walker (Shoulder bursitis) will be returning next weekend against the Phillies and, with a little bit of luck, they could get some positive momentum on Monday with Jacob deGrom. Even so, with Walker specifically since he is closer, they will have to build his stamina up all while keeping him healthy (he has dealt with early shoulder and knee problems).
They know all too well they can never have too much pitching, especially when they’re routinely seeming to run out of it.
Down on the farm 🌾
Jake Reed made his debut for Triple-A Syracuse and got shelled - allowed two runs in 0.2 IP
Brett Baty (3B, No. 2 prospect): 2-for-4, walk, one run scored
Calvin Ziegler (RHP, No. 11 prospect): 3.1 IP, 1 H, 2 R, 4 BB, 7 K
Box Scores: Triple-A | Double-A | High-A | Single-A
Around the League 🚩
Future Hall of Fame Miguel Cabrera collected his 3000th career hit against the Rockies on Saturday
The Cubs blew away the Pirates 21-0 at Wrigley Field
The Yankees rallied for a walk-off win against the Guardians despite an ugly incident with the fans and Guardians outfielders at the end of the game
White Sox star OF Eloy Jimenez will undergo an MRI after he injured his hamstring