NEW YORK -- Friday marked the official start of the second half of the season, which is more of a symbolic day than anything. The actual halfway point of the schedule passed weeks ago. Friday is simply the time when players return from the All-Star break.
It’s also the time when things start to get serious.
Yet as the Mets played out their 8-4 loss to the Reds on Friday, it often felt more like an exhibition. The team cut starter Sean Manaea’s outing short after just four innings and 69 pitches, then used a pair of non-leverage relievers the rest of the way. That strategy transformed a one-run lead into a significant late deficit, removing the teeth from New York’s ninth-inning comeback attempt.
Even now, in the second half of the season, the Mets are playing the long game.
“It’s kind of like pitchers coming out of Spring Training,” Mendoza said.
In spring, teams tend to add 10-15 pitches to a starter’s workload each time he takes the mound. But that hasn’t been happening with Manaea, who threw 73 pitches in his final rehab start on July 8, followed by 65 in his return from the injured list last Sunday and 69 against the Reds on Friday. Notably sharp early, Manaea struck out the side in the first. He caved only for a leadoff homer to Austin Hays over four innings. But he did not throw a pitch in the fifth.
Asked why, Mendoza referenced the fact that the left-hander missed almost the entire first half of the season with a strained right oblique, as well as inflammation stemming from a loose body in his left elbow.
“Especially a guy that has been through a lot not only with the oblique, but with the elbow issues, with kind of like a little bit of a setback, that’s where we’re at right now,” Mendoza said. “So hopefully the next time out, we can increase his pitch count a little bit more, obviously. But that was the plan today.”
Regardless of the reasoning behind Manaea’s slow progression, the plan might have worked had Alex Carrillo pitched well. Instead, the 28-year-old rookie allowed more runs (five) than he recorded outs (four), putting the Mets in a middle-innings hole. Once that happened, Mendoza figured he would use the opportunity to save his higher-leverage arms, who could assume heavy workloads over the next five days. Rather than turn to those relievers, Mendoza closed out the game with 3 2/3 innings from long-man Brandon Waddell.
“You take the 70, 75 [pitches] from Sean and then you try and piece it together,” Mendoza said. “I have no issues with that. That’s just where we’re at. Is it a challenge? Maybe. But it is what it is.”
Although Manaea was aware of the plan heading into the game, he said he hasn’t had any broad discussions with team officials regarding his workload coming back from injury. Last year, Manaea was one of the Mets’ most durable pitchers, throwing a team-high 200 2/3 innings between the regular season and playoffs. He’s proven capable of going deep into games.
“I want to be out there as long as possible, but I kind of understand the situation we’re in,” Manaea said. “Not taking it too crazy, but just giving what I can with the pitches I’m allowed.”
Anticipating this problem, the Mets separated Manaea and Kodai Senga in their second-half rotation in hopes that Clay Holmes and David Peterson could do enough in the days between to save the bullpen. Much like Manaea, Senga threw just 67 pitches in his return to the rotation last week. He could find himself in a similar range when he returns to the mound Monday against the Angels.
Eventually, Mendoza said, the Mets will ask their starters for more. Just not now -- not even in the second half of the season, when the stakes of each game seem to grow higher.
“We will continue to evaluate the situation here,” Mendoza said. He paused for a moment.
“As we’re trying to win baseball games, obviously,” he added.