Mets starter Matt Harvey was touched up for four runs in five innings Saturday night, which put the team in an early hole and led to their ultimate demise.
The game could have been over way earlier, however, had right-hander Paul Sewald not posted three dominant scoreless frames out of the bullpen in relief of Harvey that kept New York in the game.
“That was huge. That saved us,” Mets manager Mickey Callaway said about Sewald. “We’re going to have games like this where somebody is going to have to eat up some innings and he did a great job, went out there and attacked, mixed his pitches well and that was huge for us.”
Last year, Sewald was used ad nauseam by former Mets manager Terry Collins. In his rookie campaign, the 27-year-old tossed 65.1 innings, going 0-6 with a 4.55 ERA.
Saturday’s outing was only Sewald’s third appearance of the year, and first that was more than 1/3 of an inning in nearly two weeks.
The extra rest must have helped, as the Nevadan struck out five batters and allowed zero hits in his three innings of work.
New York’s bullpen overall has been a strong suit for them this season.
The Mets pen had posted a 1.57 ERA (8 ER/46.0 IP) ranking second in the majors prior to Saturday’s bout with the Brewers, and opponents were hitting just .206 vs. the pen, the seventh-lowest mark in the majors.
Though Sewald has been used sparingly in the first couple weeks of the new season, it was encouraging to see another arm come on in relief and stymie the opposing team.
