Many Mets fans have clamored for Frankie Montas and Clay Holmes to both be sent to the bullpen, citing their second-half struggles, with Nolan McLean and Brandon Sproat serving as ideal replacements. Mets brass finally capitulated with Montas, choosing McLean to take his spot, but doubled down on Holmes. The Mets righty rewarded his team’s faith Sunday night, throwing five innings of one-run baseball, becoming the first pitcher on the team to reach double-digit wins in 2025.
Clay Holmes (35) Credit: Kyle Ross-Imagn Images
Holmes continued an interesting trend he’s been on since July, completing a positive performance every other start. Since his start against the Brewers on July 2, when he gave up two runs in 5.1 innings, he has gone five innings every other start, giving up two or fewer runs. In his other four starts, he has given up five runs three times, and four runs in 3.2 innings in the other one.
The main issue tied to Holmes at the moment is his total innings count. Now at 131 in 2025, he has more than doubled any other season in his career, other than 2021, when he threw 70 innings. However, David Stearns and Carlos Mendoza have been adamant all season that they won’t be a stickler to total innings limits, and take a deeper look to determine whether or not he is dealing with fatigue. And at least on Sunday night, Holmes’ underlying metrics show that despite trudging through the dog days of summer, he’s remaining steady.
Holmes threw 32 fastballs, averaging over 94 mph, which is a slight increase over his year-long totals. Both his sinker and his four-seamer, as well as his sweeper, which he threw 26 times, averaged higher spin rates. The only pitch he threw that did not have an increase in velocity Sunday night was his changeup, which held steady at 88.1 mph.
The most difficult hill to climb for Mets starters lately has been the fourth inning, and in last night’s game, Holmes didn’t get ideal aid from his fielders.
With two out and one on, Jorge Polanco hit a bloop to shortstop, with a 72.9 mph exit velocity. Francisco Lindor mis-timed his jump, let the ball go just above his glove, and allowed Holmes’ only run to score. The difficulty then was not to let the inning snowball, something Holmes and his fellow starters have struggled with. After the RBI single, Holmes gave up a hit and a walk to load the bases and went down 3-0 against Cole Young. Holmes was then able to make his two biggest pitches of the evening, two sinkers right down the middle, the second inducing a soft popout to Lindor. Able to survive the ever-troublesome fourth, Holmes went back out there for the fifth and got the top of the order out.
While the Mets are still looking for a starter to break through and complete 18 outs, the team has now had four consecutive games of starters pitching at least five innings. It takes baby steps to end a drought, and whether it’s their record-breaking longevity futility or winning games in general, the Mets are at least starting to crawl.
