The New York Mets couldn’t have asked for much more out of left-handed starter Tommy Milone in his Mets debut while pitching on 10 days rest.
Milone lasted five innings Wednesday afternoon and allowed two runs on six hits, five of which were singles. He also walked a pair and stuck out five on the afternoon. Milone also helped out his own cause with an RBI single that extended the Mets lead to 3-1 at the time.
Pitching for the first time in 10 days, Milone came out flying as he struck out a pair in a 14 pitch perfect first inning. In the second he allowed a lead off solo homer to Buster Posey. In the third, fourth, and fifth he was able to strand a total of four base runners.
Milone came back out for the sixth, but allowed a pair of base hits to open up the inning and was pulled. The lefty threw a total of 87 pitches on the day, 57 of which were strikes.
Milone told Zach Braziller of the New York Post he was happy with his Mets debut. “You never know what’s going to happen when you have a long layoff like that. I felt good then when I got back on the mound on Monday, so there was some optimism coming into today. You just never know. I’m happy with how it all turned out.”
Mets manager Terry Collins was very happy with the way his new fifth starter pitched. “He threw the ball exactly how we hoped he would. Changed speeds, threw strikes, mixed them up.”
Milone’s next outing will be a much tougher task as he is scheduled to face the Arizona Diamondbacks and their deep lineup.
However, Milone’s Mets debut certainly went much better than what the Mets got out of their other replacements in Rafael Montero and Adam Wilk.
