When Michael Wacha made his New York Mets debut on July 27th, it looked there might still be some life left in the 29-year-old’s arm. Wacha earned a victory in that start, pitching five innings and allowing just one run, while striking out four. Unfortunately since then, Wacha has dealt with the same injuries and inconsistency that plagued his last few years in St. Louis.
On Tuesday night, Wacha faced the Baltimore Orioles for the second start in a row and did not get the results he would have liked.
After pitching a 1-2-3 first inning, Wacha took the mound in the second, hoping to avoid a troubling pattern that has developed this year. Of the 16 runs Wacha had yielded coming into this start, 11 of them came in the second inning. Those woes continued once again, as DJ Stewart hit a two-run homer that put Baltimore ahead.
In the the third inning, Wacha gave up another home run, as Ryan Mountcastle hit a two-out blast to put the Orioles ahead by a score of 3-1.
Finally in the fourth, Wacha was hurt by an uncharacteristic error by Jake Marisnick in center field, putting a runner on second base to start the frame. After a ground out advanced the runner to third, Cedric Mullins hit a line drive into the gap for a triple, bringing home the fifth run against Wacha, although this one was unearned.
That would close the book on Wacha, with Robert Gsellman entering in the fifth inning for mop-up duty. Unfortunately for the Mets, Gsellman simply added to the mess, giving up six earned runs of his own before exiting in the eighth inning with a lat injury.
Wacha’s final line: 4 IP, 7 H, 5 R (4ER), 2 HR, 3 K
Through six starts, Wacha’s ERA has ballooned to 7.50. The right-hander has failed to record an out in the sixth inning all season and has allowed four or more runs in four of his last five starts. The question now remains if the Mets can afford to keep Wacha in the starting rotation, but there may not be any good options to replace him.
“Right now, we gotta say yes.” Luis Rojas said after the game when asked if Wacha would make his next start.
While that was not necessarily a ringing endorsement, Rojas pointed out that the Mets have only decided who their starters are for the next three games and will make decisions as they come.
“I’m just making too many mistakes.” Wacha explained in his postgame presser. “I got to be better with my pitches, pitch selection and executing pitchers where they need to be.”
Steven Matz was placed on the injured list on August 30th and has yet to return. Unless Matz can make his return soon, there may not be another option to take the ball in Wacha’s place when his turn in the rotation comes up again.
