Just as the Mets offense began to near full strength, at least before Francisco Lindor's oblique injury, the pitching staff has crumbled into a state of emergency.
Robert Stock, called up from Triple-A to make a spot start on Tuesday night, pitched just one inning before injuring his hamstring while running out a ground ball in the top of the second, and was replaced by Stephen Nogosek, appearing in his first major league game since 2019. Stock was later placed on the IL, and the Mets were left with yet another pithing absence, currently staring at three TBD slots on Sunday and Monday, the latter being a doubleheader against the Braves.
"We ran into situations like this already in the season, and our front office has been very diligent," manager Luis Rojas said. "They've done a really good job…whatever we choose to do, we'll just feel good to compete and go for the win that day. That's all we do every day. We truest everyone here in the Mets organization. This is a 'we' thing.
"They're gonna get somebody and we're gonna have somebody in that starting spot those days that we need."
Currently, the Mets have Stock, Jacob deGrom, Noah Syndergaard, David Peterson, Joey Lucchesi and Corey Oswalt all on the IL, while Carlos Carrasco is currently nearing the end of a rehab assignment. But after getting knocked around for five runs on three home runs Tuesday night, Carrasco's return may not be as imminent as originally planned, meaning there are more holes in the rotation that need to be filled, with general manager Zack Scott saying that starting pitching will be the top priority at the trade deadline
The Mets hope deGrom's IL stint is a short one, though he has not resumed throwing after missing his last start with forearm tightness.
That leaves Marcus Stroman, Taijuan Walker and Tylor Megill as the lone healthy arms in the rotation, meaning New York will need its nearly full strength offense to carry some of the load in the short term, something the rotation had to do earlier in the season when the offense was decimated by injuries.
"We always praise on the camaraderie here and the mindset," Rojas said. "But we've always talked about how we need the offense to get going, because we can't bet on pitching and keeping opposing teams at one or two runs. That's just not real. Pitchers are going to struggle at times and we're going to need our offense to step up."
For the Mets, the concern is no longer finding efficient innings from their starters, the challenge is now finding any innings at all. Stroman, Megill and Walker will start Wednesday, Friday and Saturday, respectively, but beyond that lies a litter of question marks that will need answers in a hurry if the team is to hang on in first place.
"We just have to stay together in this," Rojas said. "We trust our pitching, we trust our hitting and we trust our defense. We know these things can happen, and we just have to keep pushing, and that's what this team does."
Follow Ryan Chichester on Twitter: @ryanchichester1
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