HERE’S THE CATCH
Mets roll to 10-1, but lose d’Arnaud while Plawecki gets drilled on hand:
MIAMI — Just Amazin’. After being no-hit for six innings Wednesday night, the Mets rallied for four runs in the eighth and pulled out their major-league leading sixth come-from-behind win of the season. Zack Wheeler was dominant as the Mets completed a sweep of the Marlins with a 4-1 win at Marlins Park. The Mets (10-1) are off to the best start in franchise history and won their eighth straight. They swept the Marlins (3-9) for the first time since 2015 and won every game on a road trip of six games or more for only the second time in franchise history.
Wheeler, who lost his roster spot this spring after the Mets signed lefty Jason Vargas, was brilliant in his first start since July 22, 2017. He held the Marlins to a run on two hits. He walked one, struck out seven and became the first Mets starter to pitch into the seventh inning this season. He retired the last 16 batters he faced.
It would have gone to waste except for the Mets’ unlikely eighth-inning rally.
Mickey Callaway surprisingly went with Adrian Gonzalez to pinch hit for Wheeler against lefty reliever Chris O’Grady with two on, and the veteran singled on a line drive to center that scored both and gave the Mets the lead. Wilmer Flores hit a ground-rule double to score another and Todd Frazier’s sacrifice fly brought home the final run.
“It’s a total team effort,” Gonzalez said. “Pitchers are doing their thing. The team is putting guys on the bases, different guys are coming up in all times in different games. It’s always a recipe for success, to have clutch hits and great pitching.” They had great pitching Wednesday, and they faced some too. In his first major league start, Jarlin Garcia no-hit the Mets for six innings before Don Mattingly pulled him and went to his unreliable bullpen. Drew Steckenrider took over and gave up a two-out single to Frazier.
MIAMI — It may be better to be lucky than to be good sometimes. The Mets were both Wednesday night. After they rallied for four runs in the eighth against the Marlins and pulled out their majorleague leading sixth come-from-behind win, X-rays on catcher Kevin Plawecki’s hand were negative for broken bones, the team said.
That was hours after the Mets announced they had lost Travis d’Arnaud, who may face seasonending surgery after being diagnosed with a partially torn ulnar collateral ligament.
“That’s a big one,” Mets manager Mickey Callaway said. “I was worried about that the rest of the game. Losing two catchers would have been tough.”
Plawecki was hit on the back of his hand with a 100mph fastball by Marlins reliever Tayron Guerrero in the top of the eighth and exited the game in the middle of the inning.
“It feels fine. It’s bruised. X-rays are negative, so give it a day or so and I’ll be back and be ready to go,” Plawecki said. “Anytime you get hit in the hand like that it’s scary, but I could move it right away and make a fist. Ease my mind a little bit.”
While there is initial relief for the Mets, perhaps that is the warning sign that they need to make a move on a catcher — something they did not want to do this winter.
D’Arnaud is likely facing seasonending Tommy John surgery. The 29-year-old could also decide to go the route of rest and rehab, which righthander Seth Lugo chose last year. Mets assistant GM John Ricco said they were not sure if d’Arnaud would seek a second opinion, nor did he know when to expect the catcher to make a decision about which path he would take.
Either way, the Mets are looking at significant time without d’Arnaud, and Plawecki is expected to take over the main catching duties.
After he took the fastball off the back of his hand, Plawecki stayed in the game to score a run, but he was replaced in the bottom of the inning by Tomas Nido, who was called up from Double-A Binghamton for Wednesday night’s game.
The Mets also have veteran catcher Jose Lobaton under a minor league contract in Triple-A. He is not currently on the 40-man roster, but the Mets could add him if d’Arnaud, or David Wright, goes on the 60-day disabled list.
Ricco would also not rule out a trade or a possible pickup of a free agent catcher.
“We’ll discuss short-term, longterm,” Ricco said of when the team returns to New York on Thursday. “We have a lot of faith in Kevin and two guys in Tomas and Jose that we got just for this reason to give us some depth there.”
Wednesday night showed how lucky the Mets were to still have that depth and maybe it should give them second thoughts about that moving forward. They did think about it this winter.
The Mets, who had offered both d’Arnaud and Plawecki to the Brewers in a trade for Jonathan Lucroy just two years ago, had some preliminary discussions about getting the veteran catcher this offseason. Lucroy, a free agent coming off a rough year in Colorado, was still available during spring training, and eventually signed a one-year, $6.5 million deal with the A’s last month.
Plawecki admitted he came into the season with a chip on his shoulder after hearing the critics call for the Mets to sign a veteran catcher.
So, for Plawecki, who has struggled in previous assignments filling in full time for d’Arnaud, this is a chance for him to quiet the doubters and prove the Mets were right.
Acareer .219 hitter with a .211 slugging percentage, he seemed to realize his long hyped potential at the plate in 20 games last August and September. He hit .302 with three homers and nine RBI.
“My opinion is very high. Kevin is more than ready for this challenge and unfortunate the way it happened but an opportunity for him,” Ricco said. “We saw him turn a corner last year and now has a chance as an everyday guy to grab the job. We’re more than confident that he can.”