Rotation in need of jolt with Montas, Manaea scuffling

NEW YORK -- Rotation answers are not coming easily for the Mets. Hours after Mets manager Carlos Mendoza revealed that embattled starter Frankie Montas will receive another rotation turn, Sean Manaea melted down for five runs Monday in the sixth inning of a 7-6, 10-inning loss to the Guardians.

The Mets have now lost six of their last seven games, in large part due to a 7.16 rotation ERA over that stretch. After leading the Majors in that category for much of the early season, Mets starters rank in the bottom third of the league with a 5.18 ERA since June 14. They’ve rested in the bottom half of the league since mid-May.

Despite it all, the Mets are not seeking changes to this unit -- at least not yet.

After Montas allowed seven runs Sunday in a loss to the Giants, bloating his ERA to 6.68, Mendoza did not immediately commit to giving the right-hander another start. The following day, he and Mets officials made the decision to give him the ball at least once more, possibly behind an opener to ease the degree of difficulty.

“He’s willing to do whatever it takes,” Mendoza said.

Asked if the Mets are evaluating things start-to-start with Montas at this point, Mendoza demurred, saying: “I don’t want to get too far ahead. Right now, we’re talking about his next start, and that’s what we’ve got.”

Hours later, Manaea looked sharp as ever early in his outing against the Guardians, retiring his first eight batters and allowing just three baserunners over the first five innings. The sixth wasn’t as kind to Manaea, who permitted five of the first six Guardians he faced to reach base -- including Gabriel Arias, whose three-run homer sullied Manaea’s line.

All told, the left-hander allowed five runs over 5 2/3 innings, bemoaning an inability to execute his slider in the sixth. Mendoza said things boiled down to one bad pitch. Yet Manaea’s outing was part of a greater trend for Mets starters, who have routinely given the team brief and ineffective outings. For Manaea, Monday’s no-decision may have come down to one bad pitch, but Clay Holmes hasn’t given the Mets more than 16 outs in a start in nearly two months. Kodai Senga has an 8.25 ERA over his last three.

Then there’s Montas, whose next assignment -- Saturday in Milwaukee against his old employer, the best-record-in-baseball Brewers -- won’t be easy. Whether the Mets use an opener in front of Montas will depend partially upon their bullpen usage Friday coming out of an off-day.

It’s not where the Mets hoped they’d be with Montas after signing him to a two-year, $34 million contract over the offseason. Montas subsequently strained his right lat in Spring Training and missed the first 13 weeks of the regular season. He performed so poorly on his rehab assignment that Mets officials briefly discussed bringing him back as a reliever, before injuries elsewhere in the rotation forced their hand.

Since that time, Montas has been a regular rotation member, making seven starts. In addition to flashing some moments of excellence, he has statistically been one of the league’s unluckiest pitchers, with a 6.68 ERA and a 5.03 expected ERA, according to Statcast data. But neither of those figures is encouraging, and Mets officials are particularly concerned that opposing hitters have slugged .722 against Montas’ four-seam fastball -- the pitch he throws most often.

Further complicating the situation is the fact that two of the Mets’ top three pitching prospects, Nolan McLean and Brandon Sproat, have both been thriving at Triple-A Syracuse. McLean (the organization’s No. 3 prospect and No. 64 overall) has been consistently excellent, producing a 3.01 ERA over 14 games (11 starts) since reaching Triple-A. Sproat (No. 5 Mets prospect) struggled early this season but has dominated his last six starts, with a 0.55 ERA.

Still, the Mets have no immediate plans to call up either prospect. While that could change based on how Montas pitches Saturday in Milwaukee, team officials have yet to offer any indications that that’s how they’re thinking.

“I think it’s always a combination of when developmentally those guys are ready, and then there’s the need and how to fit it on the roster,” Mets president of baseball operations David Stearns said of his prospects. “And so we may get to the point where we decide it’s the best thing to do to bring one or both of them here, but we’re not there yet.”