It has been a roller coaster ride for Seth Lugo this season.
A partially torn ulnar collateral ligament and a shoulder impingement have limited Lugo to just 16 starts. This coming on the heels of the righty helping the Mets to a postseason berth last year and dominating in the World Baseball Classic.
In those 16 starts Lugo is 7-5 with a 4.72 ERA, but his two most recent outings are positives the 27-year-old can build on to end the season on a high note.
He carved through the Atlanta Braves batting order on Monday, striking out seven in a 10 hitter stretch while yielding just two hits over six innings.
“Executing pitches, that’s what’s big for me,” Lugo said. “When me and the catcher are on the same page — and me and Travis [d’Arnaud] have been like that lately — I can trust that if I don’t know what to throw, he knows what I want to do. It makes my job a lot easier.”
The two hits Lugo surrendered came in the early frames, two singles from Nick Markakis and Lane Adams. After that, he strapped in and started cruising.
The second-year Met struck out the side in the fifth and had a clean sixth before hitting the showers.
Jerry Blevins appeared in his 74th game of the season in relief of Lugo, a new career-high and passed his career high of 73 appearances from 2016. The southpaw and Chasen Bradford kept Atlanta at bay before handing the ball over to Jeurys Familia.
The Mets closer surrendered two runs in a stressful ninth, but was able to seal the deal and give the Mets a split in the double dip.
For New York and manager Sandy Alderson, Lugo’s start was positive in a year where the pitching has struggled so mightily.
The Mets will have to weight their options and devise an attack plan for 2018.
“I’m hopeful we will get those injured pitchers back, we will have some depth, and a little more experienced depth going into next year,” Alderson said. “Then we’ll look at the market and see where we can maybe provide more stability for the starting rotation.”
For Lugo, the pitcher will do everything in his power to be a force in the rotation next year.
Over his last two starts, Lugo has allowed one run in 11.0 combined innings (0.82 ERA). In 15 career games, 10 starts, at Citi Field, Lugo is now 5-2 with a 2.54 ERA (20 earned runs/71.0 innings).
