WHEELS COME OFF
Zack whacked in first start since 2014
This was not what Zack Wheeler had in mind for his comeback from Tommy John surgery. The Mets right-hander, who made his first major league start since Sept. 25, 2014, gave up five runs in four innings in the Amazin’s 7-2 loss to the Marlins on Friday night at a chilly Citi Field.
One night after he earned the player-of-the-game crown in the Mets’ clubhouse, catcher Travis d’Arnaud had a seat on the bench Friday.
Rene Rivera was inserted to catch Zack Wheeler against Miami. No big thing, manager Terry Collins said. Rivera caught Wheeler’s final spring-training tune-up, against Miami. Wheeler, who was the losing pitcher in the Mets’ 7-2 defeat to the Marlins, last pitched in a regular-season game Sept. 25, 2014.
“I wanted to play him tonight with Zack. He caught Zack … against the Marlins. I thought he did a good job so I wanted to get him back in there,” said Collins, who added it is too early to draw any conclusions. “We certainly want to get Zack as comfortable as he can be out there.”
Collins also felt Rivera might better control Miami’s running game (though Dee Gordon did steal second in the third inning), and he is being careful not to overwork d’Arnaud, given the catcher’s injury history. D’Arnaud will be back in there Saturday.
“No matter if Rene gets three hits tonight Travis is going to catch tomorrow night. We’ll clean that up right now,” Collins said before the game.
Rivera went 2-3 with a double and strikeout before being pinch hit for by Lucas Duda in the bottom of the ninth.
D’Arnaud pinch hit and grounded out in the ninth.
Lefty reliever Jerry Blevins faced three batters in his first two appearances for the Mets. Blevins got all three batters, with two strikeouts.
Welcome to the life of a lefty bullpen specialist. Face a guy or two, get them out and you did what was expected. Face a guy or two, don’t flip them and you’re a failure.
“It can be difficult,” said Blevins who pitched out of a bases-loaded, one-out mess Wednesday, then fanned the only guy he faced Thursday.
“Say you don’t get that guy out. That’s it. You failed your job. And it usually comes when there are runners on base and it’s a big situation. It’s a pass or fail type of thing. There’s no grade. A starter, you get a long time: ‘You did pretty good, you got a quality start.’ But if you’re facing one guy, it’s a pass-fail thing.”
Another noted reliever, 80year-old Phil Regan, threw batting practice to the Mets. Regan, the Mets’ assistant minor league pitching coordinator, said it was his dream to throw minor league BP on his 80th birthday. Well, he was one day behind, but got his wish — and against the guys on the parent club.
“About a year ago I was telling the guys in St. Lucie — I throw a lot of batting practice, I throw every day — I started telling the guys I hope that when I’m 80, I can throw batting practice, that’s going to be my goal,” said Regan, the famed “Vulture” who had 92 saves and a 96-81 record over 13 major league seasons. “I don’t know of anybody else ever to throw when they’re 80. There probably has been someone but I don’t know of any right now.”
Regan, who said he would hit “probably 95” on the radar gun, also managed one season in the majors — with the Orioles in 1995, when
Cal Ripken Jr. broke Lou Gehrig’s consecutive games record. Marlins manager Don Mattingly sidestepped talk of Derek Jeter possibly becoming a member of Miami ownership, other than to say, “I think anything Derek wants to do, he’s going to be good at.”
Mattingly said his focus was elsewhere.
“I’ve heard that he wanted to do that and I can’t say I keep in touch with him all the time, I seem to talk to him once a year usually at Joe [Torre]’s function here in New York,” Mattingly said. “We’re concerned about getting ready to play.” The Mets promoted RHP Paul Sewald from Triple-A Las Vegas and designated INF/OF Ty Kelly for assignment. Sewald will be available on Saturday.