As a result of New York’s poor 2026 campaign, they sold at the trade deadline, dealt away nearly every valuable arm in their bullpen, called up a wave of replacements and reinforcements… and then promptly won their first two games afterward.

Go figure.

With Christian Scott exiting after five innings, the Mets leaned heavily on their newly assembled bullpen in a 6-5 extra-inning victory over the Cleveland Guardians. It wasn’t the prettiest, but it was a gritty performance from a ragtag group that included several fresh faces and a major league debut.

Jefry Yan
Photo by Ed Delany of Metsmerized

The biggest storyline belonged to Jefry Yan.

The electric left-hander made his long-awaited MLB debut in the sixth inning, breaking out his signature leaping strikeout celebration in the process. It instantly injected life into the Mets dugout, even if it drew plenty of boos from the Cleveland crowd.

Yan’s debut wasn’t without adversity. He struck out the first batter he faced before loading the bases on a walk and two singles. However, instead of unraveling, the 29-year-old dug in. He struck out Chase DeLauter before inducing a fielder’s choice off Jo Adell to escape the jam unscathed.

That moment gave Yan all the confidence he needed.

“Once I was able to get out of that inning, I said, ‘I can finally breathe right here.'”

The flamethrowing southpaw quickly became the talk of social media, with clips of his celebration spreading like wildfire. Even Guardians players were seen mimicking his dance from the dugout.

“If I freeze him, which is exactly what I did,” Yan said, “I celebrate accordingly.”

As for the boos raining down from the crowd, Yan couldn’t have cared less.

“They’re paying for their tickets,” he said. “If they want to yell at me, if they want to boo me, they can do whatever they want. I’m in my zone. I’m going to enjoy my game any way I want to.”

As long as the results keep coming, few in Queens will complain.

Yan earned this opportunity after a dominant season in the minors, posting a 3.24 ERA and 2.64 FIP over 41.2 innings, holding opponents to a .170 batting average and striking out hitters 43.5%.

And on Wednesday evening, he unleashed the hardest pitch thrown by a Mets pitcher in 2026, touching 101.1 mph.

The rest of the bullpen held its own as well.

Cleveland briefly grabbed the lead in the seventh after Jared Young‘s fielding error opened the door for two runs against Dedniel Núñez, making his season debut after undergoing Tommy John surgery in 2025, but the right-hander prevented the inning from snowballing and kept the game within reach for the offense.

Chayce McDermott, recently acquired from the Dodgers for Ben Rortvedt, took over in the eighth and likely would’ve posted a perfect inning if not for another defensive miscue behind him. He recorded a strikeout before returning for the ninth, where he worked around a leadoff walk to retire the next three hitters in order and send the game to extras.

Daniel Duarte then slammed the door in the tenth, stranding the automatic runner and earning his first save as a Met. After watching far too many late leads evaporate during the first four months of the season, it was a refreshing sight for Mets fans to watch a reliever finish the job.

Two games won’t erase an entire season’s worth of frustrations. The Mets know that, and we as fans certainly know that.

But in a season that has largely slipped away, the organization suddenly has a collection of fresh arms capable of shortening games and giving Andy Green legitimate options in the middle and late innings.

The sample size is just two games. Whether this bullpen renaissance is sustainable remains to be seen. However, in a year without much to celebrate, let’s enjoy jumping for joy off the Cleveland mound.