This story was originally published by Dead Spin
Executives with the New York Mets and Minnesota Twins delivered similar messages before the teams met Tuesday night: The core players who have gotten the teams into their respective wild-card races will be relied upon to get them into the playoffs.
The Mets will look to complete a sweep on Wednesday afternoon, when they host Minnesota in the finale of a three-game series.
Luis Severino (7-3, 3.58 ERA) is slated to start for the Mets against fellow right-hander Pablo Lopez (9-7, 4.73).
Sean Manaea struck out 11 and combined with relievers Ryne Stanek and Edwin Diaz on a two-hitter Tuesday night in a 2-0 Mets victory.
With the win, the Mets improved to 10-1-6 in 17 series since May 30, a span in which they lead the majors with a 35-17 record. New York has climbed from 13th in the NL into a virtual tie for the second wild-card spot with the San Diego Padres, a half-game behind the Atlanta Braves.
President of baseball operations David Stearns added depth to the Mets’ pitching staff on Tuesday before the trade deadline, acquiring starter Paul Blackburn and relievers Huascar Brazoban and Tyler Zuber.
Blackburn, who spent his first eight seasons with the Oakland Athletics, will slide into a rotation whose members — Manaea, Severino, Tylor Megill, David Peterson and Jose Quintana — have combined to throw 446 innings this season. The quintet threw 520 innings last season.
Brazoban and Zuber likely will be middle-relief options for the Mets, whose bullpen features one pitcher — Adam Ottavino — who has been on the active roster all season.
“I think the plan coming into the season was to compete and make the playoffs,” Stearns said. “We got to a place where we are a playoff-caliber team. We believe we’ve a playoff-caliber team, and we did what we thought was the right thing to do in adding to certain components of the team.”
The Twins, who are in a virtual tie with the Kansas City Royals for the final two American League wild-card spots, became the last team in the majors to make a trade this month, sending minor league second baseman Jay Harry to the Toronto Blue Jays in exchange for reliever Trevor Richards on Tuesday.
Minnesota’s bullpen entered Tuesday ranked 14th in the majors with a 3.93 ERA.
The Twins have one of the AL’s best records (34-26) since May 20, a span in which three members of its Opening Day lineup — Carlos Correa, Kyle Farmer and Royce Lewis — have gone on the injured list. Correa and Farmer remain on the shelf but are expected back in August.
“Getting Carlos back, getting other pieces to the puzzle that are critical for us, in addition to leaning on the guys that we already have in that room and then having a few of those players step up — that’s going to by and large determine where we are at the end of the season,” Twins president of baseball operations Derek Falvey said.
Severino didn’t factor into the decision on Thursday when he allowed two runs over five innings as the Mets beat the visiting Atlanta Braves 3-2 in 10 innings. He is 0-1 with a 4.15 ERA in two career regular-season starts against the Twins, though he hasn’t faced them since 2018.
Lopez earned a win on Friday after giving up two runs over seven innings in the Twins’ 9-3 road victory over the Detroit Tigers. He is 4-5 with a 5.54 ERA in 12 lifetime starts against the Mets.
–Field Level Media
