ZACK & BLUE
Through all the seemingly endless days that were crammed in since he last pitched in a meaningful game more than two and a half years ago, Zack Wheeler envisioned, maybe even fantasized, about his return to the mound for the Mets. Finally, that moment arrived Friday. Wheeler was back pitching at a chilly and windy Citi Field.
Was it all he hoped for, dreamed about? “Absolutely not,” Wheeler said. OK, kill the dream return angle. So it might not have been the stuff of dreams — no one hopes for a 7-2 loss to the Marlins — but it was a return for Wheeler, who missed two full seasons and then some recovering from Tommy John surgery. It was a “first step,” according to manager Terry Collins, who focused on the positives from Wheeler’s effort.
“He needed to get this. He needed to pitch tonight,” said Collins, whose team offensive basically consisted of Yoenis Cespedes’ first homer of the season, a solo shot in the eighth and Curtis Granderson’s RBI single in the first. “He needed to get back in the flow and see what it’s like and realize, ‘Hey I’ve got to go back and make sure I move the ball around the strike zone a little bit better.’ I thought for the first game he was OK.
“The other guys pitched so well and this poor kid hasn’t been out there in a long time. I thought he did fine.”
Wheeler, making his first regularseason start since Sept. 25, 2014, worked four innings, surrendered six hits and five earned runs while walking one and striking out four. He threw 80 pitches, which was right in the target zone the team wanted. The results, of course, were not what anyone sought.
“I wanted to come out and dominate,” said Wheeler, the 26-year-old righty who had hoped to follow on the terrific starts by Noah Syndergaard, Jacob deGrom and Matt Harvey. “Just put my foot down that I’m back and I belong here, but something as small as controlling your offspeed, that’s easy to fix. I’m not down.
“It stinks that I lost that I didn’t give our guys a chance to win but it’s a long season and I will improve and do better.”
Wheeler came out amped, but not out of control.
“Honestly I thought I would have more nerves and jitters but I didn’t,” he said.
He flipped the Marlins in order in the first but then the night took a decided U-Turn — “U” for undesirable.
“After the first inning, I thought he lost a little command and later he got it back, but a couple mistake pitches were up in the strike zone and they put good wood on it,” catcher Rene Rivera said.
The Mets staked Wheeler to a quick 1-0 lead against Miami lefty starter and winner Wei-Yin Chen. That lasted until Miami sent four batters to the plate in the second. The fourth batter, Derek Dietrich, clubbed a two-run triple to center. Dietrich scored on Adeiny Hechavarria’s ground out. In the third inning, Christian Yelich smashed a two-run homer off the right-field foul pole, victimizing a Wheeler slider for a homer in a fourth consecutive game at Citi Field. That made it 5-1.
“It’s not what I wanted but it was good to get back out there in front of the fans,” Wheeler said. “I didn’t have my best stuff today, didn’t have much control over my offspeed, so it made it pretty easy for them to just sit fastball. A few things to iron out but nothing to do but get better.” Collins agreed. “What this kid has gone through in the last two years, I’m just glad he’s back out there,” Collins said. “Still got some work to do but I’m going to look at the positive side and he’s back out there and I think he’s going to get better.”
The Marlins piled on and made it 7-1 in the fifth against Josh Smoker with Marcell Ozuna and Dietrich stroking RBI singles. Cespedes closed the scoring in the eighth with his solo shot, to make it 7-2.