SAN FRANCISCO — Sean Manaea perfectly described his pitching performance against the Giants.
“It might have been one of the best or worst games of my life,” the Mets left-handed pitcher said Wednesday after his team’s 8-2 win at Oracle Park.
Manaea was scoreless, but after pitching 101 innings, he was ejected for 4 squared/₃ innings and was no longer eligible for the win.
Manaea walked four batters, allowed four hits, and struck out six.
In the second inning, the bases were loaded with no outs due to walks by Jorge Soler and Patrick Bailey, with Matt Chapman’s single in between, and he retired without giving up three batters in a row.
In the third, Manaea gave up back-to-back walks to Austin Slater and Wilmer Flores, but again escaped. Slater was selected from second base, Michael Conforto struck out, and Jorge Soler was retired.
Manager Carlos Mendoza said Manaea’s control of his fastball was the main problem.
“It was a deep count, three balls, but he kept pitching,” Mendoza said. “In the second inning with no outs and the bases loaded, he wasn’t at his best, but he fought hard and got out of it. It was one of those games where his changeup and cutter were good, and he whiffed a lot, but the main thing was his fastball. It’s about control.”
With Manaea leaving the game early, Reed Garrett had to pitch two innings, allowing one earned run and striking out four. Garrett (4-0) was credited with the victory.
“I don’t really care about personal wins, but the fact that I gave it my all and you all wanted it at the end was really frustrating,” Manaea said.
In six games on the road, Luis Severino was the only Mets starting pitcher to give his team six innings.
Manaea has started five or fewer innings in four consecutive games.
However, the Mets received results from their bullpen, which entered the day with a National League-best ERA of 2.99.
“Knowing that Reed Garrett is available at one-plus is huge when Manaea doesn’t have much depth in the game,” Mendoza said. “He has the ability to come in and throw strikes and get strikeouts and still pitch multiple innings. It’s huge to have a guy like that come out of the bullpen.”
