Thursday could have put the New York Mets in a major hole, pitching-wise.
But Sean Manaea gave New York manager Carlos Mendoza the chance to save his bullpen after David Peterson’s subpar outing.
Manaea went 3 2/3 innings, allowing just one run and four hits, which Mendoza called “a positive step” in his 2026 development despite the Mets’ 7-2 loss to the San Francisco Giants.
The Giants roughed up Peterson to the tune of nine hits and five earned runs in just 4 1/3 innings. San Francisco entered play with just 14 runs scored in their first six games.
Sean Manaea Saved the Mets’ Bullpen Thursday
Thursday was Day 6 of the Mets’ nine-game-in-nine-day stretch over three time zones. They used five relievers in their 2-1, walk-off, getaway-day loss to the St. Louis Cardinals on Wednesday and were already staring down the barrel at a pitching shortage before Peterson got blasted.
Yet, Manaea saved them from further pitching peril. Though he threw 74 pitches in just 3 2/3 innings, allowed an inherited run to score then served up a sixth-inning leadoff homer to Giants lefty slugger Rafael Devers, Manaea did his job by striking out two over his three clean innings of relief.
Manaea retired six in a row after the Devers homer before loading the bases with two outs in the seventh inning. But he got Devers to strike out to end the threat then recorded a perfect bottom of the eighth inning.
âIt was a positive step there,â Mendoza said. âI think he was aggressive. His fastball had life, he got some swings and misses, and for him to finish the game like that and save the bullpen is huge.â
Sean Manaea is Biding His Time Until He Needs to Start
Manaea is in Year 2 of a three-year, $75 million contract with the Mets but has been reduced to No. 6 starter and long reliever status thanks to his injuries, Nolan McLean’s emergence and the Freddy Peralta trade.
But no starting staff goes a full season unscathed. So having Manaea available as both a left-handed reliever who can be the next man up when an inevitable starting-pitching injury happens, will serve the Mets well, even while fans pine for Jonah Tong to get the call back up to Queens.
“Weâve got five extremely talented starters, and my role right now is to help this team in the capacity that Iâm doing,â Manaea said.
Manaea has, of course, struggled with lower velocity after a 2025 season where he was reduced to just 60 2/3 innings that was hampered by injuries.
But after throwing 29 pitches in his initial outing against the Pittsburgh Pirates on Saturday, the lefty nearly tripled his pitch count on a chilly, early-spring night in San Francisco on Thursday.
Considering he entered with two on and one out in the fifth inning — a higher-leverage situation than most starters will ever face — Manaea’s 4.35 pitches-per-batter faced was efficient.
âIt was important for him to stretch out in case we make the decision when we have to,” Mendzoa said. “There were a lot of positives from him today, not only from the workload standpoint but just in the way he threw the ball.”
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