Niese makes bullpen debut in Philly defeat
PHILADELPHIA — Jon Niese’s first relief appearance in four years was mediocre at best Tuesday night, but the lefty will receive additional chances to prove he belongs.
After a weekend of crushing the ball in Cincinnati, the Mets lost 43 to the Phillies at Citizens Bank Park and failed to enhance their chances of securing home field for the NLDS.
Even so, the Dodgers trailed the Mets by one game for home field after clinching the NL West title Tuesday in San Francisco. The Mets hold the tiebreaker based on winning the season series.
Niese, whom the Mets are evaluating for a bullpen role in the NLDS, pitched 1 ²/₃ innings in which he allowed one run on three hits. The lefthander was making his second career relief appearance and first since July 2011.
After pitching a scoreless sixth, Niese got two quick outs in the seventh, but then allowed consecutive singles and was removed. Erik Goeddel entered and allowed an RBI single to Aaron Altherr, with the run charged to Niese.
“Here you only have to go through a lineup once, if that,” Niese said. “You just go with what works and it’s going to be a learning process, something I’m going to have to get used to, but it was a good step today.”
Manager Terry Collins indicated he would like to use Niese in backtoback appearances from the bullpen, beginning Friday.
“I think getting him up and getting him in during the middle of an inning is probably going to be our next challenge,” Collins said.
Lucas Duda hit two home runs — giving him five in his last four games — to account for the Mets’ scoring.
Bartolo Colon was removed after five innings in which he allowed eight hits. The righthander surrendered a threerun homer to Darin Ruf in the first inning, but kept the Phillies scoreless for the next four.
Brothers Travis and Chase d’Arnaud faced each other for the first time in their careers, as the Mets catcher was behind the plate when his older brother struck out as a pinch hitter in the seventh inning.
With rain in the forecast for much of the week, the Mets could be facing at least one postponement and doubleheader before the regular season concludes, but haven’t been apprised of a protocol should the series finale Thursday against the Phillies get nixed. The regu lar season concludes Sunday.
Juan Uribe’s chest injury has improved, according to Collins, but not to the point the veteran infielder is ready to resume playing. Collins doesn’t expect to know until the middle of next week if Uribe will be available for the NLDS. Teams have until the day of the first game to submit their NLDS rosters. The Mets are scheduled to play Game 1 a week from Friday.