MAKES YA WANNA HURL
Harvey, putrid pen leave Mets fans feeling queasy
This has been a season to forget for Matt Harvey. The struggling righthander — and an awful bullpen — blew a three-run lead as the Mets fell 12-7 to the Pirates on Friday night at Citi Field.
So much for those supposed signs of progress from the Dark Knight. Matt Harvey did not record an out until his 21st pitch and, worse, he could not protect a three-run lead in what became an ugly 12-7 loss to the Pirates in Friday night’s series opener at Citi Field.
With their third straight loss, the Mets dropped to 23-30. That matches their season low-water mark at seven games under .500.
“We score seven runs, we should win the ballgame,” Harvey said. “From the first inning on I just kind of battled with location. Other than that, it’s just not my night.”
A half-inning after Lucas Duda’s second homer of the game staked the Mets to a 7-4 lead, Harvey returned to the mound for the sixth inning and proceeded to surrender a leadoff homer to Josh Bell. He then issued a walk to Andrew McCutchen and was pulled.
The Pirates (25-30) eventually produced seven runs in the inning against Harvey and reliever Paul Sewald, the rookie who recently had ascended in the bullpen pecking order because of his sturdy pitching.
The big blow against Sewald (0-1) came on a three-run homer by backup catcher Elias Diaz, who had six RBIs in the game. Diaz was a late addition to the lineup after former Yankee Francisco Cervelli was scratched due to illness.
Harvey was charged with six runs on five hits, four walks and one hit batter in five innings. He also earned three mound visits from pitching coach Dan Warthen as his ERA swelled to 5.43. Among National League qualified pitchers, only three have a worse ERA — Jhoulys Chacin (5.77), Tyler Anderson (5.85) and ex-teammate Bartolo Colon (6.99).
“One of the things we’ve been very lucky and very fortunate to see here the last couple of years is the consistency of what we’re going to get,” manager Terry Collins said about his starting pitching. “And right now it seems like when we start a game, we’re not sure what we’re going to get. That’s not a real good feeling.”
Harvey’s velocity, which has been erratic this season, generally hovered in the 92-93 mph range on Friday. At one point, Collins asked Warthen if the pitch Harvey had just tossed was a slider. Warthen told the manager it was a 90 mph fastball.
It was a dismal night all around for Harvey, who had allowed one run in six innings last weekend in Pittsburgh and seemed to be making progress. Trying to restore his past luster after Tommy John and thoracic outlet syndrome surgeries, Harvey has now issued 32 walks and plunked three batters in 61 ¹/3 innings this season.
Harvey also twice failed to deliver sacrifices to hurt his own cause. He bunted into an inningending double play in the second, then had lead runner Travis d’Ar- naud cut down at second base on a bunt in the fifth.
Sewald, meanwhile, had allowed just three runs in his past 20 innings spanning 13 appearances. Collins said he stuck with Sewald during the seven-run inning because Fernando Salas and Josh Edgin were unavailable, Jerry Blevins was available for only one batter, and the manager cannot continue to regularly burn through his bullpen.
“It was just one of those days,” said Sewald, who was charged with five runs while recording only one out. “I just really didn’t feel like I had the A-plus stuff.”
Said Harvey: “Like we’ve all said, it’s a long season. We’ve had a rough patch pitching-wise. We just have to do a better job.”