With the Mets’ slim playoff hopes hanging by a thread, Seth Lugo threw a gem against the Tampa Bay Rays on Tuesday night.

Lugo went 6 1/3 innings, and was charged with two runs (1 ER) on four hits, striking out seven and walking one. The 30-year-old could have made it through seven innings, but was the victim of a bit of bad luck.

With a runner on first base and one out in the seventh, Todd Frazier booted a double play ball that would have gotten Lugo out of the inning with only one run on his ledger. When the double play was not completed, Justin Wilson took over, and a run eventually scored on a wild pitch.

This was an important outing for Lugo, coming off his last start on Thursday in Philadelphia. In that game, Lugo was handed a three-run lead in the top of the first inning, and proceeded to give it all back quickly, highlighted by home runs against three consecutive batters in the bottom of the inning. Lugo didn’t make it out of the second inning in the game last Thursday, allowing six runs on six hits.

Lugo’s velocity was way down by the end of his start in Philadelphia, with his four-seam fastball at 90 mph. His four-seamer had averaged 95 mph prior to that outing. Lugo pitches with a partially torn UCL, so there were some whispers about a potential concern in that regard, because he was more than a little bit off. However, Lugo put those concerns to rest on Tuesday night.

The right-hander used all of his pitches effectively, mixing his four-seam fastball and curve primarily. He used his changeup, mostly outside the strike zone, to keep the Rays’ hitters off stride, and popped an occasional slider. Lugo threw 95 pitches on the night, an important number, showing that he is fully stretched out in the starter’s role. He now has made six starts on the season, and with the exception of last Thursday night in Philadelphia, thrown an increased number of pitches in each successive start.

If the rotation holds, Lugo will pitch the last game of the season on Sunday in Washington. If the Mets can remain mathematically alive for the postseason, they will have Jacob deGrom and Lugo set to pitch the last two games of the year.

As fans, we can hope that those games will have relevance and the Mets two best starters will have the opportunity to push to play in October.