Mets’ pitching staff on the mend with Justin Verlander and Max Scherzer returns imminent
At long last, Justin Verlander will make his Mets debut and the Mets rotation is finally starting to take shape.
The Mets set their pitching rotation for the week ahead with three games against the Detroit Tigers on the road and three against the Colorado Rockies at home following Monday’s doubleheader against the Atlanta Braves.
Left-hander Joey Lucchesi will open proceedings at Comerica Park, former Tigers right-hander Max Scherzer will return from his suspension to pitch the second game of the series and Verlander, another longtime former Tiger, will come off the injured list to start Thursday in the series finale. Kodai Senga will start the Colorado series. Carlos Carrasco is tentatively scheduled for a start the following week. He’s been on the IL dealing with a bone spur in his right elbow.
The Mets are trying to be judicious with the workloads of their pitchers after so many early injuries this season.
“We’ve kind of semi-penciled him in for the following week,” manager Buck Showalter said Monday morning before the first game of the doubleheader. “A lot of variables in trying to get the rest people need. We’re trying to see the off day coming there and then all of a sudden weather happens and fluctuates. We looked at the weather in Detroit, which influenced a lot of the decisions too.”
Verlander started the season on the IL with a teres major strain. Since then, much of the Mets’ rotation has either struggled to perform or struggled with injuries. The Mets have already used seven starters this season, which is something they anticipated when they put this group together, and it has affected the bullpen as well.
Left-hander Brooks Raley hit the IL over the weekend with elbow inflammation. Inflammation is typically symptomatic of something larger, but the Mets think all Raley needs is a chance to get a little bit of a break and reset. Raley is 1-0 with a 4.76 ERA this season, but that ERA isn’t necessarily indicative of how well he has pitched and the important innings he’s been able to pick up.
Raley has made 14 appearances this season, which is tied for the league lead, and 12 of them have been scoreless. Between the World Baseball Classic and the hamstring injury that led him to withdraw from the tournament, the Mets don’t think he ever got any sort of solid footing underneath him this spring, which affected his preparation and could be the culprit behind the elbow issue.
“I think when we get through this, he’ll have a better chance of getting in line with what he’s done. I spent a lot of time looking at his pitching logs last two years and you know, trying to see what’s the best Brooks we can have.”
The good news is that the Mets are getting their long man back Monday with right-hander Stephen Nogosek coming off the IL. This leaves the Mets short on left-handed pitchers, especially since David Peterson was demoted to Triple-A, but the Mets would like to continue using him as a starter and think a stint in the minor leagues will aid him.
The club is expected to call up left-hander Zach Muckenhirn from Triple-A Syracuse for the second game of the doubleheader. The 28-year-old has made six appearances (one start) this season and allowed only a single earned run over 11 2/3 innings, (0.77 ERA).
Muckenhirn has some familiarity with Showalter having played in the Baltimore Orioles system. He was drafted by Baltimore in 2016 out of the University of North Dakota, and could become the first and only player from the UND program to reach the Major Leagues since the program was cut shortly after he was drafted.
Showalter would ideally like to have one or two lefties in the bullpen, but Peterson probably wont be one of them right now. He was getting hit hard by lefties and the Mets want as much starting pitching as depth as possible.
“A couple of outings, he’s like a pitch away from having a good solid outing,” Showalter said. “He just hadn’t been able to make the pitch.”
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