Clay

Holmes

Holmes did his part here outside of two poor pitches. With two out and no one on in the second, he let an 0-2 changeup to Dalton Rushing bleed too much over the plate and he roped in down the line for a double. Then, Hyeseong Kim launched a sinker that sat middle-middle into the right field seats. Besides that little blip, he was stellar. His sweeper and changeup combined to force nine of his 13 total swings-and-misses and each were lethal. He’ll take a 1.96 ERA into his next scheduled start against the Twins.

Mets manager Carlos Mendoza confirmed Holmes made it through Monday’s bullpen session without any issues and has been cleared to take the ball this week. The 33-year-old was lifted from Friday’s start against the Athletics in the sixth inning with hamstring tightness. It’s an extremely challenging road matchup out in Los Angeles so fantasy managers outside of extremely deep mixed leagues might want to consider alternatives.

Strength tests today went well. If he gets through his between-starts bullpen session without incident, he’ll be cleared to face the Dodgers on Wednesday. Still, mixed leaguers will probably want to avoid using him then.

As far as injuries go, that’s at least a breath of fresh air that it wasn’t arm related. Prior to exiting, Holmes had allowed just one run on five hits over 5 1/3 innings while issuing three walks and striking out three. Whether or not he’ll require a trip to the injured list — or be available for his next start — will likely depend on how he responds to treatment and how he’s feeling over the next couple of days.

Holmes had pitched into the sixth inning when he was met on the mound by the training staff after allowing a one-out single to Jacob Wilson. After a brief discussion the decision was made to pull him from the game. No word yet on what the issue is, but he’ll head for further evaluation. Expect the Mets to provide an update on his status after the game.

Holmes surrendered a run in the first, and then blanked the St. Louis lineup until the sixth when he gave up a solo homer to Nolan Gorman. He generated a usable 13 swings-and-misses over 90 pitches before exiting, and he struck out five against three walks. Not a dominating start, but a serviceable one for Holmes in his first effort of 2026. He’ll be on the bump in San Francisco over the weekend against the Giants.

Mendoza added that David Peterson will follow Opening Day starter Freddy Peralta before McLean gets the ball on Sunday against the Pirates at Citi Field. He’ll be followed by Clay Holmes and Kodai Senga with Sean Manaea being used in a piggyback role, as needed. The hard-throwing 24-year-old top pitching prospect will make his season debut with an extremely favorable matchup at home after a starring role in the World Baseball Classic earlier this month. He’s a top-25 range fantasy starter in remaining drafts.

Holmes racked up six strikeouts on the evening and didn’t walk a batter. He gave up a run-scoring single to Christopher Morel in the seventh inning, which happened to be the only run scored by either team in the contest. The 32-year-old hurler got nine whiffs on 62 pitches on the night, posting a strong CSW of 37 percent. He shouldn’t have an issue being fully stretched out before his first regular season assignment.

Team USA could not guarantee Holmes enough innings to stay ready for the regular season, so back to Mets camp he goes. Also exiting the Team USA roster for the quarterfinal round are Michael Wacha, Ryan Yarbrough, and Tarik Skubal. Replacements for those three are Will Vest, Tyler Rogers, and Tim Hill. The team has not yet announced a replacement for Holmes, but Joe Ryan is expected to be in the mix.

Holmes was pumped tonight; his sinker was up about one mph from last year and his changeup was up two mph. He threw first-pitch strikes to all 10 batters he faced and wound up with a 47% CSW.