The Mets bullpen came up huge on Tuesday night, with four relievers combining for 3.1 innings of scoreless relief.
“Our bullpen, we know what we’re capable of,” said Addison Reed, who pitched a perfect seventh. “We have all the confidence in the world in each other.”
Aside from a brilliant start by Noah Syndergaard, and another save by Jeurys Familia, lefthander Jon Niese, Reed and Tyler Clippard all did a tremendous job coming out of the pen in last night’s 4-1 victory over the Chicago Cubs to give the Mets a 2-0 series lead.
“Our bullpen went unnoticed because of the job Noah did, but they were outstanding tonight, manager Terry Collins stated. “I wasn’t a pitcher, so I was never one that thought to have a particular role outside of the guy pitching the 9th inning was that big. But at this level, it is big.”
It was tremendous to see the pen come through beyond Familia and pitch so effectively in a big spot and in a tight game. If there was a lack of confidence in them before last night, they certainly quelled any fears moving forward.
“Our guys have done a great job. But they’re all caught up in it right now. They’re all caught up in the success of what’s going on,” Collins added.
“As I said before, the one thing that’s really helped us is those guys walk through those clubhouse doors and they hang those egos on a coat rack, and there are no egos in that clubhouse. Everybody wants to win.”
Niese, who has not been used much in the playoffs, came in to relieve Thor in the sixth with a man on second to face Cubs slugger, Anthony Rizzo. The veteran southpaw was able to strike Rizzo our to end the inning and close the door on any rally the Cubs attempted to mount.
“Oh, that was awesome, man,” Clippard said. “I was watching in the bullpen and I felt like he pitched him brilliantly. It obviously got the crowd into it, Niese I’m sure was pumped and it set the tone for the rest of the game.”
Reed and Clippard then followed in the seventh and eighth, each tossing a scoreless inning to set up closer Jeurys Familia.
“I was itching to get out there,” Clippard said. “It was nice to get in a game like that. I felt good. We’ve had some great outings from our starters, guys who went deep, Fam’s picked them up. It’s been a great team effort so far and it was nice for me to get out there and contribute a little bit and get some reps.”
Now it’s onto Chicago for the next three games with the Mets bullpen brimming with confidence. To be successful the rest of the way, the team needed to get everyone in their bullpen besides Familia primed and ready to go, and last night they were firing on all cylinders. Perfect timing as the Mets look towards completing a series win and punching their ticket to the World Series.
