Wednesday’s game in Miami took an interesting turn for the Mets in the late innings. Luis Rojas opted not to use Seth Lugo in the eighth or ninth innings, instead allowing Dellin Betances and Edwin Diaz to blow a save opportunity. Michael Conforto’s two-run homer in the top of the ninth ended up bailing the bullpen out of a potentially disastrous loss, but the decision not to use Lugo certainly raised some eyebrows.
After the game, Rojas provided some clarity to the situation, affirming what had previously been speculated: Lugo will be moved to the starting rotation beginning with Thursday’s game against the Marlins, and Steven Matz will head to the bullpen.
“Seth will be starting the game for us tomorrow. We committed to it before the game,” Rojas said. “He’s a couple days fresh. He got hot here today. He was available for the bullpen the past two nights. Today we just committed to it before the game. We just had a conversation with Matz … he’ll be available for us out of the pen.
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“Seth has been a starter for us in the past. With the ability (he has) of navigating through a lineup, repertoire, command and what that can do, we’re going to go that way with him. We’re going to start stretching him out. … He can probably give us a little bit of length with the pitch count.”
And moving Lugo to the rotation is not a temporary decision. Even when Michael Wacha and David Peterson return from the 10-day IL, Lugo will continue to start games.
“That’s the route we’re taking, for him to start to tomorrow and to stretch him out. He’s been a starter before. He’ll have his routine. We want to stretch him out. He’ll be part of the rotation starting tomorrow. So that’s the way we’re going. Matz will be part of our bullpen starting tomorrow.
“Seth is a guy who’s ready for any kind of challenge, any kind of movement. … He took it well, took it like a pro, and he’s ready to go for tomorrow.”
Lugo hasn’t started a game for the Mets since the 2018 season, when he made five starts in his 54 appearances. He has a 13-8 career record as a starter with a 4.06 ERA, compared to his 2.53 ERA as a reliever.
It’s move that Rojas and the Mets felt they needed to make to bolster their rotation, knowing that it takes a key cog out of their bullpen arsenal.
“Seth has been such an important part of our bullpen, last year the whole year and then this year, too. He always brings us that ability to go multiple innings and he matches up against lefties and righties and things like that,” Rojas said. “So yeah, it crosses my mind when we made the decision prior to the game that he’s not going to be available to us in the pen, but at the same time we have really good guys there that can definitely come into those scenarios. They’ve done it in the past, they’ve felt it, and they can do it for us.
“Today, we blew a save opportunity there, but Diaz did a good job coming right back and showing what he can do. We trust out pen. We trust the guys who we have there."
Lugo has always maintained his preference to rejoin the rotation, and he’ll get his first opportunity to show what he can do on Thursday at 6:05 p.m.
