Credit: Isaiah J. Downing-USA TODAY Sports

For the Mets, Jacob deGrom, Noah Syndergaard and Carlos Carrasco will be much welcomed additions back into the rotation over the next several weeks.

In their absence, the team has experimented with using an opener on some occasions. Starter Joey Lucchesi has been used in those games primarily, usually coming in in the second or third innings.

New York did this last Saturday against the Arizona Diamondbacks at home, and it more or less worked, as Lucchesi went 3.1 innings, yielded just two hits and struck out three.

This Saturday, however, Lucchesi was ineffective to say the least, and was chased from the game after 1.2 innings of four run ball.

Lucchesi, who now owns a whopping 9.19 ERA on the season, said after the game that he knows he’s a good pitcher, but he hasn’t proved that to this point.

“I have just got to keep trusting myself,” Lucchesi said. “I know personally I’m really good, but I am not showing it right now and I’ve just got to man up and get out on my own, get out of this rut. I know I can do it. I know there’s haters out there, but I am going to keep pushing myself and do the best I can next time out.”

When manager Luis Rojas was asked if Lucchesi will get another chance to redeem himself, he said that he felt it was likely.

“I know things connected for him in the four batters: walk, double, single, double,” Rojas said. “But the outing before this one, he took us into the sixth inning, throwing the ball really well. This was a different story today, but it was a sequence of four batters that kind of pushed him out of the game.”

The relief reinforcements behind Lucchesi didn’t fare well on Saturday either, sans Tommy Hunter who pitched two scoreless.

Sean Reid-Foley surrendered a run. Jacob Barnes was tagged for three. Jeurys Familia for another three. All and all, the Rays smacked the Mets with 12 runs, and in the process, captured the series victory.

New York will head into Sunday 18-15, a half game above the Philadelphia Phillies for first place in the National League East, and have Marcus Stroman on the bump.

However, deGrom, Syndergaard and Carrasco, along with the return of Seth Lugo, will fortify this pitching staff and will give the team some much needed padding going forward.