The commerce deadline got here and went final Tuesday with out the Mets addressing what many pegged as their largest want: a left-handed reliever.
However Sunday, when the Mets wanted a top quality — and prolonged — reduction outing, left-hander Joely Rodriguez delivered.
On one other day when the Mets’ bullpen was shorthanded, Rodriguez relieved Jacob deGrom and offered 2 ¹/₃ scoreless innings in a 5-2 win over the Braves at Citi Field.
“Joely was as key to the sport right now as Jake was,” supervisor Buck Showalter mentioned. “Was {that a} stretch? I don’t assume it’s a stretch.”
Showalter did have to stretch Rodriguez, although, for his longest outing of the season.
When the sport began, Showalter knew he had 5 relievers who he wasn’t going to make use of after the primary 4 video games of the collection had taxed the bullpen. That left simply Rodriguez, nearer Edwin Diaz and the not too long ago referred to as up Adonis Medina to hold the load as soon as deGrom had exited the sport.
A spectacular outing from deGrom accounted for five ²/₃ innings earlier than Rodriguez entered to guard the three-run lead towards the guts of the Braves’ lineup.
After getting lefty Matt Olson to floor out to finish the sixth inning, Rodriguez gave up a leadoff single to Austin Riley within the seventh. However he buckled down and acquired Ronald Acuña Jr. to fly out to the warning monitor earlier than placing out William Contreras and Robbie Grossman.
Rodriguez then punched out two extra batters in an ideal eighth inning, then handed the sport over to Diaz.
All 4 of Rodriguez’s strikeouts got here on his changeup.
“To be sincere, yeah, the changeup right now was the most effective I’ve thrown all of it 12 months,” Rodriguez mentioned by way of an interpreter. “It was glorious for me.”
Rodriguez, who lowered his ERA to five.12 on the season, has thrown three straight scoreless appearances, providing hope he may give the Mets a dependable lefty out of the bullpen down the stretch.
“I’m simply centered to do the most effective I can,” Rodriguez mentioned. “The identical manner that I’m anticipated to do my job, all people else is predicted to do their job. What we wish to do is carry out, go on the market and proceed to win video games and supply the most effective of our capability.”
