Sean Manaea gives up six runs in loss to Braves

Manaea struck out six and walked one while throwing 70 percent of his pitches for strikes. He recorded just eight whiffs and an eight percent swinging strike rate on the day, so it wasn’t a dominant outing, but he filled the zone with strikes on his fastballs and was able to get strikeouts on the few times he did get into two-strike counts. Things get tougher for him with the Brewers and Dodgers up after the All-Star break.

It was not one of Manaea’s better velocity days, as he was down to 90.4 mph tonight after coming in at 91.2-91.5 mph in each of his previous three starts. That’s definitely something to watch. Manaea seems like a decent enough bet as a bottom-of-the-rotation mixed-league option when he’s above 91 mph, but not so much if he’s back to 89-90 mph, as he typically was as a reliever at the start of the year. He’ll get the Braves this weekend.

This poor result was partially not having great command and partially his defense utterly failing him. The Mets made six total errors in this game – all on the infield – and two were made behind Manaea. Past that, Brett Baty ran into the wall in right field on a ball that could’ve been caught and Bo Bichette over-charged a bunt from Pete Crow-Armstrong that sailed right past him. That wound up being Manaea’s last batter in an ugly outing, but we can hang our hats on the fact that his fastball still sat above 91 mph and he forced 10 swings-and-misses. He’s scheduled to face the Blue Jays next time out.

McLean will have his scheduled start pushed back an extra day in the wake of Monday’s rainout at Citi Field. It also eliminates the possibility of a two-start week where he would’ve had to face the red-hot Phillies this weekend. It’ll be Sean Manaea taking the ball for the other contest during Wednesday’s twin bill before Freddy Peralta starts Thursday’s series finale.

Manaea struck out five batters on the night while allowing only one base on balls. The Phillies scratched out single runs against him in the first, third and fourth innings — the last of which came on a throwing error by AJ Ewing. The 34-year-old southpaw got a whopping 16 swings and misses on 95 pitches in the contest — 11 of those on his sweeper — while registering a strong CSW of 32 percent. He’ll tote a 4.64 ERA, 1.34 WHIP and a 56/18 K/BB ratio (54 1/3 innings) into Wednesday’s matchup against the Cubs.

After a scoreless first inning, the Braves put a run on the board against Manaea with a base hit and a double in the second inning. Eli White later took him deep for a solo homer in the fourth inning. Manaea would go on to toss two more scoreless frames, pitching well overall for a quality start. He struck out six. It was Manaea’s longest outing of the season and his first traditional start. Still, he’s pitched well over the last six weeks, posting a 3.33 ERA since the start of May. He’ll take a 4.78 ERA, 1.35 WHIP, and a 51/17 K/BB ratio across 49 innings into a start against the Phillies in Philadelphia on Thursday.

The surprising velocity jump Manaea enjoyed in his first outing as a bulk guy did not carry over to today; he averaged 89.7 mph with his sinker, which was also his average for the year before he suddenly surged to 91.7 mph Monday against the Mariners. He proved adequate but nothing more than that today, which might increase the chances of him returning to a more traditional relief role after Kodai Senga comes off the IL. Before then, Manaea could face the Braves on Friday or Saturday.

Sean Manaea will likely again function as a bulk guy after doing a great job Monday against the Mariners. Brazobán thus far has allowed four runs over six innings in five appearances as an opener.

Manaea departed the game in line for the win, but Brooks Raley gave up a game-tying homer immediately afterwards. Even though this was set to be Manaea’s longest outing of the year, he found some extra velocity tonight, averaging 92.1 mph with his sinker. He had previously averaged 89.7 mph this year. Last year, he came in at 91.7 mph. If that gain sticks around, he could prove to be a viable mixed-league pitcher. However, he probably needs another strong outing right away this weekend against the Padres to avoid being sent to the pen if Kodai Senga rejoins the rotation next week.

David Peterson’s demotion to the bullpen in conjunction with nebulous roles for Jonah Tong and Sean Manaea have created an opportunity for Senga to have a meaningful role with the Mets again. The 33-year-old will make his likely final rehab start later this week before returning to New York’s pitching mix, most likely as a traditional starter, at some point next week.