Credit: Orlando Ramirez-USA TODAY Sports
The New York Mets sent Marcus Stroman to the mound Tuesday night against the Atlanta Braves. The game was delayed due to rain until 7:35PM, and unfortunately Stroman did not remain much longer than that, as his start was cut short due to injury.
Stroman hurt his hip after an awkward landing on the Citi Field mound. Catcher James McCann felt that Stroman was not finishing his pitches well as he tried to work through the discomfort and the Mets decided it was best to pull him before the injury worsened. Yennsy Díaz came in to relieve Stroman in the second inning.
Manager Luis Rojas said that Stroman is currently under further evaluation for his soreness. Rojas also added that Stroman felt that he hyperextended his hip on one of his pitches.
“He wanted to stay, but I think it was wise to come out,” Rojas said.
Díaz made things really dicey as he loaded the bases by walking Austin Riley, which was followed up by a Dansby Swanson infield single. Willson Contreras walked as well, but Díaz struck out the next three batters in Ender Inciarte, Charlie Morton, and Ronald Acuña Jr to end the second inning.
Things got tricky for Díaz in the third inning, which lead to him giving up a three-run home run to Swanson which gave the Braves a 3-0 lead. Contreras grounded out to end Díaz’s rough inning.
Drew Smith came in for the fourth inning to relieve Díaz after he went: 2 IP, 3 H, 3 ER, 2 BB, 3 Ks. Smith struck out Inciarte, which began a 1-2-3 inning.
Freeman and Albies struck out to begin the fifth, which was followed by an Almonte walk, right before Swanson popped out to end the inning. Through his two innings pitched, Smith issued one walk and struck out three batters, while keeping the Braves off the board without allowing a hit.
Aaron Loup relieved Smith in the sixth inning, and pitched a 1-2-3 inning which included two strikeouts. Loup hurled another perfect frame in the seventh, before being asked to do something he had not done since 2014, pitch three innings of relief.
After giving up a single to Ozzie Albies to begin the eighth inning, Loup got into a groove by striking out Almonte. Swanson struck out to end the inning, and Loup matched his career-high with those three innings of work.
Loup has been dominate this year pitching to a 1.59 ERA with 28 strikeouts in 22 2/3 innings pitched. Trevor May was brought in for the ninth inning and got Contreras and Pablo Sandoval to strike out. Acuña ended up flying out to end the inning.
Minus one bad pitch by Díaz, the Mets bullpen looked spotless in a game where no one anticipated they would be tasked to cover eight innings of relief. While New York may have been planning on going to a bullpen game on Wednesday, those plans evaporated as soon as Stroman exited in the second inning.
After the game, Luis Rojas announced that Tylor Megill will make his MLB debut on Wednesday night. Megill has pitched to a 3.35 ERA in the minors this season, making eight starts between Double-A and Triple-A.
