He’s not staying in Vegas
Mets tab Sewald for pitching depth
Paul Sewald felt he had pitched well enough this spring to put himself on the Mets’ radar before he was sent to the minors. He figured sooner or later, the Mets would need relief help and he might get a call.
The call came sooner. Much, much sooner. The Mets promoted him Friday. And pitched him Saturday. “Not this quickly but I did feel like I put myself on the map and was hoping I’d give myself a chance to get called up at some point. Five games into the season, I wasn’t expecting that certainly,” said Sewald who made his major league debut when he started the eighth inning of the Mets’ 8-1 loss to Miami at windy Citi Field. “But it was good. I got my one inning in Triple-A.”
Sewald only got one out and gave up three hits and two runs, the second on a safety squeeze
Sewald was in the bullpen at Las Vegas when the phone rang.
“They said, ‘You need to come to the dugout.’ I thought, ‘That’s a little bit weird,’ ” said Sewald who had a 2.51 ERA with 12 strikeouts in 14.1 innings in spring training. “[They] told me to pack my bags because I’m not pitching and to go to New York.”
Mets manager Terry Collins praised Sewald’s fastball command. Yup, it put him on the Mets’ radar. And there was need after starter Zack Wheeler worked only four innings Friday
“We burned two relievers we probably don’t have tonight due to pitch counts,” Collins said beforehand. “We can’t keep talking with the health of our pitching staff and not protect it.
“This guy throws strikes with all his pitches,” Collins said of Sewald. “It doesn’t matter what the count is, you’re not going to get a fastball, you’re going to get something else. He keeps the hitters a little off balance because he’ll throw a changeup or a slider in any count. And right now he’s the guy also can give us some innings if need be.”
While Sewald came up, utility man Ty Kelly was designated for assignment, leaving the Mets with four positional bench guys.
Collins said there was no concern regarding the blister on Noah Syndergaard’s right middle finger. He’ll start Sunday night.
Against Miami lefty Adam Conley, Collins kept Wilmer Flores’ bat in the lineup and had his utility guy at third, giving the struggling Jose Reyes a breather. And Collins had Lucas Duda back at first after sitting him against a couple lefties. Reyes was inserted in the seventh inning. Duda homered.