Rather than stick with Edwin Diaz for the 10th inning on Wednesday night at Citi Field against the Miami Marlins, Buck Showalter took the gamble of bringing on right-handed reliever Drew Smith to try and keep a 4-4 game in which the Mets pulled off a furious rally to tie in the final innings intact.
No easy feat given the automatic runner that starts on second base in extra innings.
But after he struck out Charles LeBlanc to lead off the inning and coaxed a pop-up to from Brian Anderson, Showalter couldn’t help but get his hopes up.
“I turned to [pitching coach Jeremy Hefner] there with two outs,” he began, “and said ‘boy if he can through this, we might have Drew.”
The 29-year-old did just that, striking out Brian Fortes to keep the Marlins off the board in the 10th and ultimately set up Eduardo Escobar’s fifth and final RBI of the night, a walk-off single in the bottom of the frame.
“I felt like I commanded my slider a lot better and I had good life on my fastball and I was keeping it up in the zone and away for the majority of the time,” Smith said of his outing. “If I can do those two things, that’s usually a recipe for success… that was a good sign.”
It’s been an arduous road to that high-leverage situation for Smith, who suffered a strained right lat in late July — which played a large part in mid-season struggles that saw his ERA swell from 1.99 on June 24 to 3.51 one month later.
He was immediately thrown back into tough spots upon his return, making his first appearance in 58 days on Sept. 21 to try and put out the fire of a bases-loaded jam created by Taijuan Walker and David Peterson. Just three pitches into his return, though, Mike Brosseau sent a grand slam out of Family Life Field to put the Mets away.
Showalter has continued to go to the right-hander despite the difficult return and Smith has rewarded the manager for his faith. He’s gone three scoreless outings since then, including his big hold against the Marlins.
“I was fired up for sure,” Smith said. “It felt good, especially after the first outing coming back off the IL was not ideal. To have one like that makes the two months of rehab feel like it was worth it. I’m just going to try and build on it and keep going.
“I feel like I’ve responded well since then.”
An earlier 2022 version of Smith, which saw him go his first 12 outings of the season without allowing a run, would only help an uncertain Mets bullpen situation that will be looking for late-inning candidates alongside Seth Lugo and Adam Ottavino to act as the bridge to Diaz.
“It’s one of those things you hope are a byproduct of the game… we we sat there and said ‘there’s Drew from April or May,'” Showalter said. “That could mean a lot for the depth of our bullpen.”
