SEATTLE \u2014 Needing to help reduce some of the workload of their bullpen, the New York Mets optioned right-hander Jonah Tong to Triple A on Wednesday and recalled Joey Gerber.<\/p>\n
The Mets needed a fresh arm in their bullpen despite a day off Thursday after using six pitchers in their 12th extra-innings game of the season on Monday and four pitchers on Tuesday. The Mets (26-35) lost both games.<\/p>\n
While they desperately try to turn their season around, the Mets need to be careful not to overuse their top relievers, such as Brooks Raley, A.J. Minter, Huascar Brazob\u00e1n and Luke Weaver, all high-leverage options ahead of closer Devin Williams. That\u2019s easier said than done with the Mets\u2019 inconsistent lineup; lopsided wins are rare. The idea is that adding a fresh pitcher, coupled with the upcoming days off Thursday and Monday, could help the situation. The Mets close out June with 21 games over the month\u2019s final 22 days.<\/p>\n
Tong, the Mets\u2019 top pitching prospect, was one of a few pitchers appearing in a \u201cbulk\u201d role after an opener or piggybacking a starter.<\/p>\n
The Mets\u2019 rotation is a puzzle. There are just three pitchers locked into starting roles: Freddy Peralta, Nolan McLean and Christian Scott.<\/p>\n
Sean Manaea and David Peterson, the other pitchers used in such a capacity, are coming off encouraging games. Manaea and Peterson are important to the Mets\u2019 hopes of turning their season around. Without Tong on the roster, they are not even more significant.<\/p>\n
Kodai Senga, another option for length, is scheduled to make a start in Triple A on Wednesday while on a rehab assignment. The Mets want to see better results from Senga before activating him. He is on the injured list because of lumbar inflammation. In his last rehab start, he gave up three runs, four hits and two walks while also hitting a batter in 3 2\/3 innings.<\/p>\n
Tong\u2019s three outings with the Mets featured uneven performances. In the Mets\u2019 8-3 loss to the Seattle Mariners on Tuesday night, Tong, pitching behind opener Brazob\u00e1n, allowed five runs (four earned), five hits and two walks in 3 1\/3 innings. He had four walks in his previous outing but didn\u2019t allow an earned run over 3 2\/3 innings. In his season debut, he tossed three hitless innings while issuing one walk. An inability to consistently throw strikes is costing him more opportunities.<\/p>\n
Manaea, who has appeared only in relief this season, owns a 5.08 ERA, but has pitched better after reclaiming velocity. Over his last three outings (11 2\/3 innings), he has allowed just three runs, eight hits and three walks with 13 strikeouts. Monday, he logged five innings, surrendering one hit (a solo home run) and one walk.<\/p>\n
Peterson\u2019s last outing also went well. He threw four scoreless innings Sunday, pitching in a piggyback role behind McLean. Before that, however, he was booted from the Mets\u2019 rotation after giving up six runs, 11 hits and three walks in five innings. In 13 games (seven starts), he holds a 5.18 ERA\/3.00 FIP.<\/p>\n
Since Clay Holmes went on the injured list with a fractured fibula May 16, a Mets starter or bulk pitcher has covered six innings just once (when Peralta tossed seven innings on May 23).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"SEATTLE \u2014 Needing to help reduce some of the workload of their bullpen, the New York Mets optioned…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":713202,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[558],"tags":[64,63,591,1830,85],"class_list":["post-713201","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mlb","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-mlb","tag-new-york-mets","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/713201","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=713201"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/713201\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/713202"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=713201"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=713201"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=713201"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}