Sean Manaea continues to carry Mets' rotation with another dominant start

It may be crazy to think that not only has Sean Manaea been one of the Mets’ best pitchers over the last month, but one of the best in all of baseball.

Manaea entered Tuesday’s start against the Arizona Diamondbacks having allowed just nine runs over his last 31 innings, dating back to July 30 (five starts). Of those five starts, he had pitched at least seven innings four times and had double-digit strikeouts twice.

So it shouldn’t have been a surprise when he had a repeat performance in the Mets’ 8-3 win on Tuesday night.

The southpaw allowed three runs over 6.2 innings while striking out 11. With Tuesday’s start, Manaea has a 2.98 ERA to go along with a 0.90 WHIP over his last seven starts.

“Amazing, incredible,” manager Carlos Mendoza said. “You have to give him credit, man. He’s worked so hard throughout his career to put himself in this position. As we progress this season he’s getting better and better.”

Mendoza said that in each start, Manaea is utilizing a new pitch better than before and the changeup was the pitch on Tuesday night. But the manager said it’s the southpaw’s confidence and ability to attack hitters that gave him success, something Manaea agrees with.

“Have a lot of confidence in all my pitches,” Manaea said. “Attacking guys, getting ahead and finishing them off. Feels really good.”

After five-plus successful seasons in Oakland, Manaea struggled in San Diego and San Francisco the last two years before signing with the Mets. But even in Queens, Manaea was pitching like a mid-to-back of the rotation pitcher to start the year.

So what’s changed?

A lot has been made of Manaea changing his arm angle after watching Chris Sale pitch, but both Mendoza and Manaea believe there’s more to it.

“He went and needed to work on some things, whether it was the mechanics, some of the pitches,” Mendoza said. “Fastball is playing, he dropped down his angle lately. he’s added that sweeper -- a pitch that wasn’t as effective and the changeup is becoming a real weapon. There’s a lot of good things going for him.”

“The last couple of years have been tough and a lot of lessons. Definitely learned from them and just making adjustments,” Manaea explained. “Mechanically just simplifying everything. Getting to a point where I can repeat consistently and being able to attack guys on a consistent basis. That’s pretty much the main thing.”
There have been five games this season where a Mets starter struck out 10-plus batters and after Tuesday, Manaea has four of them. Manaea’s starts against the Twins and Cardinals to begin this incredible stretch -- back on July 30 and Aug. 5 -- saw him become just the third pitcher this season (Tyler Glasnow, Spencer Schwellenbach) with consecutive starts of 7.0 or more innings and double-digit strikeouts. He’s the only one of those three to not allow a run in both of those starts.

On Tuesday, against the third-lowest strikeout team in the D-backs, Manaea got 11 batters to strike out. Also, Arizona is the second-best contact team in MLB, and Manaea held them to just one hit over the first six innings.

It’s those stats that have Brandon Nimmo thinking of another Mets pitcher he played with.

Speaking with SNY’s Steve Gelbs on the field after the win, Nimmo couldn’t help but give the highest of praises to Manaea.

"The last guy that I've seen kind of pitch like this was probably [Jacob] deGrom, where you're just going through it, just swing-and-miss, swing-and-miss and go back to the dugout,” he said. “It’s pretty impressive to watch and I know from facing him that he’s not an easy at-bat. He’s also found another gear and kicked it in. ... He’s taken it to a new level and it’s fun to watch.”

And with the Mets fighting for a Wild Card spot and ace Kodai Senga missing all but one start, Manaea has stepped up to be the team's top pitcher over this stretch. If the Mets are to play in October, Manaea's pitching will be a big reason why.

“He’s been huge for us all year and has pretty much carried that rotation -- him along with [Luis Severino], of course,” Mendoza said of Manaea. “I’m proud of him.”