Mets Player Performance Meter: Pitchers, September 18-24

The rotation was not as impeccable this week as it has been most of the rest of the month, but nobody put up a true stinker. José Quintana, however, did have arguably his worst start in a Mets uniform and the bullpen had some poor performances in close games in the Phillies series.

We’ll get that José Quintana start out of the way first. It was an odd outing for Quintana on Saturday; he struck out ten batters and didn’t walk any, which is an incredible ratio, but he gave up six runs (five of them earned). He managed to last six innings, but took the loss.

Reed Garrett pitched the final two innings of the game on Saturday in relief of Quintana and gave up an insurance run to the Phillies, but the Mets lost by two runs, so it did not turn out to be all that consequential to the result. Garrett also had a multiple-inning outing on Tuesday, pitching 2 ¹⁄₃ scoreless innings in relief of Joey Lucchesi with three strikeouts to earn positive marks for the week.

Joey Lucchesi fell just one out short of a quality start on Tuesday, yielding three runs (only two of them earned) over 5 ²⁄₃ innings of work. He struck out five batters and walked two in the outing. Lucchesi has been fantastic for the Mets and now holds a 2.88 ERA on the season.

Unfortunately Lucchesi’s strong work was squandered and the Mets were walked off on Tuesday. It was Trevor Gott who gave up the the walk-off single to Jake Burger to end the game. Gott bounced back the following day to pitch a scoreless ninth inning in the rubber game of the Marlins series. He also pitched a 1-2-3 eighth inning complete with a strikeout in Sunday’s loss.

Sunday’s loss began with a rough outing from José Butto, which is a shame because he had been pitching so well. Butto lasted only four innings on Sunday and took the loss, allowing four runs on four hits with five strikeouts and two walks. Butto is the only Mets starter who pitched twice this week; his outing on Monday, by contrast, was excellent. He limited the Marlins to just one run on four hits through six innings of work. He struck out six batters and walked only one.

The bullpen was perfect in a tie game in relief of Butto to set up Jeff McNeil’s big home run to win the game on Monday. That began with Grant Hartwig, who worked around a hit to pitch a scoreless seventh. It was a good week for Hartwig, who gave up only one run in 4 ²⁄₃ innings across three outings this week. That one run also came in relief of Butto in Sunday’s loss, but it was merely an insurance run. Hartwig pitched 2 ¹⁄₃ scoreless innings in Thursday’s loss.

Unfortunately by the time Hartwig came in the game on Thursday the Mets were already losing thanks to Jeff Brigham surrendering a go-ahead home run to Nick Castellanos. That was Brigham’s only outing for the week. Brigham has since been optioned to Triple-A Syracuse.

David Peterson started Thursday’s game and took a step back after a string of decent outings. Despite striking out seven batters, he lasted only four innings and gave up four runs on five hits. The Phillies jumped on Peterson for two runs right away on the first and the Mets came back in the second, but then Peterson gave up two more runs in the third.

Old friend Anthony Kay has returned to the Mets and was called up this week, making his 2023 Mets debut on Sunday with 1 ²⁄₃ scoreless innings with two strikeouts in relief of Butto.

Phil Bickford got the win on Monday for pitching a scoreless eighth inning in relief of Butto before the McNeil home run. Bickford had a clean sheet this week. He did give up an RBI single on Wednesday, but the run was charged to Brooks Raley and did not factor into the final result of the game. Bickford did also give up a run in Friday’s game, but it was unearned due to Omar Narváez’s throwing error.

The Mets went on to lose on Friday in walk-off fashion in extra innings. Adam Ottavino took the loss for giving up a game-winning single to Alec Bohm, but the run was unearned because of the free runner. Ottavino closed out Monday’s game with a scoreless ninth inning to earn his eleventh save of the season.

Both Drew Smith and Brooks Raley each pitched a scoreless inning on Friday. Both relievers also appeared in Wednesday’s victory, but Smith fared better than Raley did. Smith worked around a walk to pitch a scoreless seventh, striking out a batter in the process. Raley then came in to start the eighth and got the first two outs, but then gave up back-to-back hits. One of those runners would come around to score and that run was charged to Raley.

Kodai Senga still earned the win for his performance on Wednesday, however, which was another good one. Senga limited the damage to just two runs on seven hits over six innings of work. He struck out three batters and walked two in the outing. His season ERA remains below 3 and he has the chance to be just the second Mets rookie ever to record 200 strikeouts in a season.

Tylor Megill got a no-decision on Friday, despite delivering a quality start. Megill gave up three runs on five hits, striking out six batters and walking only one. His stock trended up this week.