In one of the more interesting games of the season for the Mets -- one that had a pair of two-run home runs by Michael Conforto, including one in the bottom of the ninth and a walk-off walk to keep New York in playoff contention with five games left in the season -- the craziest story of the night came from Paul Sewald.
Sewald, pitching in his third year for the Mets, picked up the first win of his career Tuesday night against the Marlins.
He entered the game having appeared in 118 games without a win, the longest streak in MLB history and the next highest pitcher still 38 games less than his mark.
"It's just a relief," Sewald said after the game. "That was a terrible stretch of losses, so now just the fact that I don't have to think about it, talk about it, hear about it, that's the most important thing."
Sewald was 0-14 in his career and had gone a record 139.0 innings without picking up a win prior to Tuesday's 5-4 comeback win over Miami.
Before tonight, Paul Sewald had pitched in 118 games without recording a win - a Major League record.
- SNY (@SNYtv) September 25, 2019
He got his first W tonight. pic.twitter.com/lIGqZaQIVi
The Mets' relief pitcher has had a quiet year thus far, entering Tuesday 0-1 with a 4.42 ERA, 21 strikeouts and one save under his belt.
"He went down (to Triple-A Syracuse) and worked his tail off to put himself in a position where he would be an option to come back up," said Mets manager Mickey Callaway. "I'll tell you what -- out of all the guys we've called up from Triple-A, he's probably pitched the best. So I'm so happy for him. He deserves it because he worked his tail off to get it."
Between Jacob deGrom's NL Cy Young Award chase and the recent struggles of Noah Syndergaard and Steven Matz, New York's starting pitching rotation has been through many ups and downs over the course of the season.
Getting another "up" in the form of Sewald's first career win completed another strong outing by the bullpen, which had otherwise plagued the Mets throughout majority of the season.
"It's a meaningless stat for a reliever, but it's good to just at least have one," Sewald said.