Seth Lugo lost a couple of impressive streaks, but picked up a huge win. He’ll take the trade-off.
The eighth-inning solo shot that Lugo gave up to Juan Soto snapped not only a 2-all deadlock, but a string of 26 straight retired by Lugo, tied with Bobby Parnell for the most ever by a Mets reliever. But after they took the lead in the home eighth, Lugo rebounded with a perfect ninth for a 4-3 win over Washington.
Lugo (5-2) helped the Mets earn their eighth straight victory and 15th in their last 16 to sit a half-game behind Washington and Milwaukee for the NL wild-card spots.
“That’s clutch. I figured he would. He was making good pitches that whole inning; made one bad pitch to a very dangerous hitter,” manager Mickey Callaway said. “But he threw the ball well and just gave us even more confidence in all the other pitches that inning to be able to send him back out if we tied or took the lead.”
Before challenging Soto with a fastball – and losing – Lugo had thrown 15 2/3 scoreless innings, and his opponents were 0-for-their-last-33 against him, the longest hitless streak in the majors.
“It’s just been the way I’ve been [focused], my mindset, my thought process when I’m out there. I’ve been pretty good about focusing on just executing each pitch and not thinking too far ahead, just focusing on the pitch I’m throwing,” Lugo said.
“I try not to let it [rattle me], but it did in that situation. I had a change-up called, and him stepping out, I decided to challenge him with a fastball. That was a mistake on my part.”
After coughing up that solo shot to right on a 2-1 pitch, Lugo induced an inning-ending groundout from Matt Adams. And after the Mets plated two in the home eighth, Callaway stuck with Lugo for the ninth instead of going with closer Edwin Diaz.
“Once Lugo pitches I’m not sure if he’s going to be available the next day. So at that point, if we’re going to stay tied or if we’re going to take the lead, we’re going to leave him in,” Callaway said.
“We have all the confidence in the world in Diaz as well, and Diaz will step up [Sunday] and get a save.
“This is not easy. It’s not easy on the players and we wouldn’t be able to do this if we didn’t have Edwin Diaz, who just wants to win and is very flexible and he is going to give us his best when his name is called.”
https://nypost.com/2019/08/11/mickey-callaways-trust-in-seth-lugo-rewarded-after-rare-slip-up/
2019-08-11 13:36:00Z
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