Corey Oswalt started for the Mets today against the San Diego Padres in place of the injured Noah Syndergaard, who is currently on the disabled list.
The 24-year old began the game with a strikeout of leadoff hitter Travis Jankowski and then retired Carlos Asuaje and Wil Myers on flyouts to get through a one-two-three first inning.
However, Oswalt ran into trouble in the second inning as he allowed a single to Eric Hosmer, who advanced to third on another one in the next at-bat by Manuel Margot. Hosmer would score on a double play that Freddy Galvis would hit into right after.
Oswalt would retire the next four batters in order while striking out both Austin Hedges and the opposing pitcher, Clayton Richard, in the process.
The fourth inning would start off rough for the right-hander, though, as he would hit Asuaje and then, after striking out Myers, would walk Hosmer. He would escape the jam as Oswalt would get both Margot and Galvis to fly out to end the threat.
After recording the first out in the fifth inning, Austin Hedges would hit a ball over the wall in left-field that Brandon Nimmo trapped to make look like a home run robbery. Instant replay is a thing, though, and that call would be quickly overturned to give the Padres a 2-0 lead.
It would get worse before it got better for Oswalt too, as he would walk Richard on four pitches. However, he got out of it because of some bad baserunning as Richard would get thrown out at second on a single by Jankowksi to right field and the latter would find himself picked off with Asuaje at the plate to escape the inning without further damage.
In the bottom of the inning, the Mets would find themselves in a position to tie the game with Oswalt set to hit and decided to pinch-hit for him with Phillip Evans as a result. He would deliver, though, and the Mets would take the lead and never let go.
Oswalt would get his first major league win because of that to go along with his line that spanned five innings (62 pitches) in which he allowed two runs, three hits, and two walks while striking out four.
Th 2017 Organizational Pitcher of the Year now has a 1-2 record to go along with a 5.27 ERA, 0.88 WHIP, and 19 strikeouts in six games (five starts, 27 1/3 innings pitched) at the major league level in 2018.
When Mickey Callaway was asked as to why Oswalt was removed early from the game, he said it had nothing to do with a lack of trust or performance, but actually a minor injury.
“He jammed his hand in the at-bat. You saw the four-pitch walk to the pitcher, he just couldn’t grip the ball and then obviously the pinch-hit thing coming up, that would have been a decision we would have had to make too. But no, the way he’s been pitching, I think he’s earned the ability to see the lineup the third time through and if he keeps on pitching like this, I think you’ll see him do that.”
Steve Gelbs of SNY then asked if there was fear that the injury could cause some issues for him in his next start, but Callaway seemed to dismiss that notion.
“No, it’s kind of like what [P.J.] Conlon did in Cincinnati. They just get jammed and it kind of just swells up part of the hand and they have trouble gripping the ball. It’ll be fine in a couple days.”
