The Mets entered Monday night in desperate need of length and good performance from their starting pitcher.
They had just gotten swept by the Brewers in their opening series, and José Quintana, Luis Severino, and Tylor Megill were imperfect, allowing nine earned runs in 13 2/3 innings.
Donning a new uniform, and taking the ball as a solidified member of the rotation, Sean Manaea began what would become a masterful first start.
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His night began by facing Matt Vierling. The righty struck a fastball well, sending it to the right-center field gap at 103.1 miles per hour. The ball, however, died on the warning track, and was caught by Harrison Bader.
After the first batter, Manaea went on cruise control. He struck out Andy Ibáñez to collect his first punchout as a Met, and got Spencer Torkelson to fly out weakly to Francisco Lindor to end the first inning.
The strikeouts followed from there. Manaea collected two in the second inning, two more in the third inning, and one more in the fourth. The lefty primarily used his fastball, which was sitting at 93 mph and amounted to four of his six strikeouts through four innings.
Manaea said after the game his fastball command and velo were “pretty good.”
“I like to keep holding the velo over the course of the game but especially at the beginning I thought it was pretty good.”
Utilizing his strong fastball, Manaea worked through the first four innings perfectly. He walked Riley Greene to begin the fifth, ending his perfect game bid, but held the no-hitter intact after two hard-line drives were caught and Jake Rogers struck out.
With a no-hitter intact, and the Mets in the middle of a scoreless battle with the Tigers, Manaea took the ball for a sixth inning, a destination no Mets starter had reached this season.
Manaea still looked crisp at the start of the sixth. He struck out Javier Baez for a second time, throwing a nasty 77 mph sweeper down in the zone. However, Carson Kelly worked a walk, and reached second base on a weak groundout from Vierling, setting up a scoring opportunity for either side for the first time of the night.
Facing the righty Ibáñez, Manaea needed just one more out to escape the sixth. The out would keep the score tied at zero and solidify Manaea as the first Met to complete six innings in 2024.
However, for a brief moment, it looked like the Tigers had broken through. Ibáñez singled into left field, which prompted Joey Cora to send Kelly home. Brandon Nimmo then picked up the ball in left field, and made a perfect throw home to nail Kelly at the plate and keep the score tied at zero.
The adventurous sixth inning was Manaea’s last. He struck out eight batters in six scoreless innings, while allowing only one hit and two walks. Manaea became the first pitcher to throw 5 2/3 scoreless innings in his Mets debut.
The start signified hope for the Mets rotation in 2024. Manaea was sharp, displaying his strikeout potential while also giving the Mets a bridge to their bullpen.
He might not strike out eight every night, and certainly won’t hold a 0.00 ERA the entire year, but Manaea proved he could be an electric No. 3 starter in a Mets rotation hoping to get Kodai Senga back sooner than later. It’s also a positive that Manaea carried over his success from the end of 2023 to his first start. In his last four starts with the Giants, he pitched to a 2.25 ERA with 18 strikeouts in 24 innings.
