Smith gets call he wants and delivers big-time

ATLANTA — After Drew Smith converted his first career save in Washington last year, he knew he wanted more of them. The adrenaline that comes when pitching in late innings with a game on the line can be intoxicating and addicting, but it can also be complicated to navigate.

Monday night in Atlanta, Smith was tasked with holding a three-run lead in the eighth inning. The Mets couldn’t mix and match against one of baseball’s best lineups the way they would have liked to with so many key arms unavailable and they needed Smith to get three outs, no matter how many pitches it took.

Smith got them and the Mets eventually won, 8-7, but they didn’t come easy.

“I just tried to stay poised,” Smith said. “Maybe in past years, I get a little too amped up. Your focus drifts because you get a big out.”

This season, Smith is as locked in and as focused as ever, which is why he managed to stay calm after things went awry in the inning.

The right-hander entered with a runner on base, gave up another single, advanced both runners with a wild pitch, and then crashed into a TV camera while trying to catch a foul pop-up. He got up, went back to the mound and struck out his former catcher, Travis d’Arnaud, with a high fastball.

It looked as though he was out of the woods when he struck out No. 9 hitter Jarred Kelenic for the second out, but then he walked the next two batters to let in a run. He recovered, getting a ground ball to end the inning with a two-run lead still intact.

“The job wasn’t done and I had other great hitters coming up,” Smith said. “I knew that. I just tried to stay focused and execute pitches.”

There was a time when he might have unraveled in an inning like that. Last year, Smith struggled to limit home run damage in key innings. But the 30-year-old Texan knew that if he wanted those high-leverage opportunities, he would have to learn to manage his emotions.

The more experience he gets in high-leverage innings, the more he’s learned to manage them.

“He kept making pitches,” said manager Carlos Mendoza. “He slowed the game down, he went pitch by pitch.”

With this being a walk year for Smith, he wants to take a step forward. After a few seasons of living in Queens, Smith moved to Long Island this year to be in a quieter area. He can often be found with the veteran relievers on staff, getting tips from Adam Ottavino, Edwin Diaz or Jake Diekman.

Smith came into spring training ready to show his revamped slider, but through 5 ⅔ innings so far, he hasn’t used the pitch as much as he initially thought he would. Instead, he’s using his cutter more often, especially against lefties. So far, he likes what he has seen from their swings against it.

“Just trying to give them something different to think about,” Smith said. “With my slider down and in, it’s kind of in that honey hole for their swing sometimes. It’s medium velo speed, so I’m trying to find something a little harder, but I can also work up in the zone a little more on (lefties). I think it’s going to help a lot. I’ve used it a little bit so far so we’ll see how it keeps working out.”

Smith’s slider usage is typically in the 20-30% range, but so far this season, it’s down around 17%. He’s throwing his cutter, which is about 5 MPH harder than his slider, 17-18% of the time