With the Mets struggling to find a solid 7th inning reliever, Terry Collins is hopeful that newly acquired Addison Reed is the answer.
“We’ve been snakebit in the seventh,’’ Collins said Sunday. “That’s the inning we have to clean up. For some reason that’s been the toughest inning for us and due to the innings limits and the pitch counts that becomes the big inning.” (Kevin Kernan, NY Post)
Reed, who served as Arizona’s closer in 2014, is currently having an up and down season. He was demoted earlier in the year to Triple-A, but he has been tremendous ever since returning. In his last 16.1 innings pitched, he has allowed only three runs and struck out 14.
“Hopefully, he is that seventh-inning guy we’ve been searching for. This guy had 40 saves a couple of years ago. We’re glad he’s here.’’
Reed says that he’s made a few small adjustments which has helped him turn his season around.
“Just a little leg kick and just picking up the target a little bit earlier,” Reed said. “Everything has been feeling good since I did that, so I just want to keep it going.” (Kieran Darcy, ESPN NY)
Overall, Reed has a 4.20 ERA in 40.2 innings with 34 strikeouts. His best season came with the White Sox in 2013 where he posted a 3.79 ERA and 9.1 K/9 as the team’s closer.
If he can continue his second half resurgence in New York, the Mets will have an excellent backend of the bullpen with Tyler Clippard and Jeurys Familia already in the mix.
