Mets’ ace Jacob deGrom was supposed to start the series opener against the Miami Marlins on Friday night, but was unfortunately scratched due to a family issue.
Saturday’s projected starter, Corey Oswalt, was in turn bumped to Friday night only a few hours before game time and was smacked around by the Marlins lineup.
“I think that even in the first two innings he didn’t have any of his breaking stuff,” manager Mickey Callaway said following the game. “So I think they kinda figured out he was struggling with getting that stuff over, so they were just sitting on fastballs and they put a few in play.”
The first two innings were pretty low maintenance for the right-hander, as he kept the Marlins at bay, but in the third inning, Miami took flight.
Lewis Brinson kicked off the frame with a solo home run, followed by a J.T. Realmuto single with two men on to make it 2-0.
The Marlins tacked on one more, and then JT Riddle put the icing on the cake by clubbing a three-run bomb to put the Mets down six, a deficit that would prove insurmountable.
“I knew from the get-go I didn’t have a feel for my secondary pitches, so I just tried to battle through it,” Oswalt said. “I just didn’t make enough pitches when I needed to and put the team in a bad spot.”
Callaway said pitching on short notice can be a difficult task. For Oswalt, he was pitching on seven days rest and his fastball was sitting a lot lower than his normal velocity of 92-94 mph.
“It can be a tall order,” Callaway said. “I’ve seen it work both ways. I’ve seen it help guys out because there’s not another 24 hours of anxiety when this happens.
“Tonight, it didn’t work out.”
However, Oswalt didn’t blame the short notice or extended rest for his poor performance.
“It didn’t change anything,” Oswalt said. “I went out there and tried to attack the zone, I just didn’t make enough good pitches today and left some balls up.”
New York will have deGrom on the hill Friday as they look to avoid slipping deeper into the National League cellar.
