Not that he was in any danger of being dealt on trade deadline day, but Sean Manaea picked a good time to pitch a great game.
The veteran left hander was absoutely brilliant in dominating the Minnesota Twins in a 2-0 win before 27,767 at Citifield.
“I thought he was really good, pretty impressive,” Mets Manager Carlos Mendoza said. “Everything was working. The fastball, whether it was the two seamer, going with the sweeper, he had everything working.”
Manaea, who threw 96 pitches, 70 for strikes, gave up two hits, walked one and struck out a season 11 batters in pitching his best game in a Mets uniform.
The left hander was particularly impressive against the Twins’ Byron Buxton, Royce Lewis and Jose Miranda, their 2-3-4 hitters with 8 of his 11 strikeouts against those three batters. Buxton struck out three times against Manaea, (he had the “golden sombrero” with four strike outs overall), while Lewis struck out twice (he had three on the night) and Miranda fanned three times.
“I was throwing everything for strikes, getting ahead of guys,” Manaea said.
Manaea has been enjoying pitching at Citifield. In his last four home starts, the southpaw has posted a 4-0 mark with a 1.50 ERA. The Twins never had more than one runner on base against Manaea and had only one opportunity with a runner in scoring position.
Ryne Stanek made up for his poor debut as he overcame a defensive miscue to keep the Twins off the board.
Pinch-hitter Max Kepler reached when Mets first baseman Pete Alonso underhanded a poor throw to Stanek who was covering first. At first, it appeared that Stanek had hurt his foot covering the bag, but he recovered to get a couple of fly outs, sandwiched around a walk.
Mendoza went to closer Edwin Diaz for a four out save. The right hander obliged by striking out Buxton to end the eighth and then retired the side in order in the ninth to record his 13th save.
The Twins started 24-year old rookie right hander and local kid David Festa, who was a 13th round pick in the 2021 MLB June draft out of Seton Hall.
Festa, who was making only his 4th big league appearance, was sharp in the early going as he gave up one hit over the first three innings and faced the minimum nine hitters.
The Mets broke through in the fourth. With one out, Brandon Nimmo walked on four pitches. With J.D. Martinez at the plate, Nimmo went to second on a balk and took third on a wild pitch. Martinez, who had two of the Mets’ five hits, plated the first run when he singled to center on a 2-0 pitch to drive in Nimmo.
Mark Vientos led off the fifth by clobbering a 1-2 pitch from Festa into the left field stands. It was Vientos’ 15th home run and only the third hit that Festa gave up in five innings of work.
With the win, the Mets moved to seven games over .500 to tie a season high and it was their third shutout of the season, all coming in their last 16 games. The Mets have won 33 of their last 48 games and they did not lose a series in the month of July.
Mets added some arms at the trade deadline including a starter in Paul Blackburn from the Oakland A’s in exchange for minor league pitcher Kade Morris.
The 30-year old right hander, who is primarily a ground ball pitcher, was 4-2 with a 4.41 ERA in 9 starts for Oakland. Blackburn, who missed two months this season with a stress fracture in his foot, was an All Star in 2022 but has had problems staying healthy.
Blackburn, who was the longest tenured player on the A’s, has appeared in 81 games, 77 starts and has posted a 21-26 career mark with a 4.83 ERA during his eight years in Oakland.
According to Mets President of Baseball Operations David Stearns, Blackburn is a pitcher who is “Going to fit into our rotation quite nicely.”
The Mets also added reliever Huascar Brazoban from Miami for minor league infielder Wilfredo Lara and former Long Island Ducks pitcher Tyler Zuber from Tampa Bay for minor league pitcher Paul Gervase.
Trade deadline day can be hectic but Menzoza stayed the course.
“We were active and then obviously, it was crazy. There’s a lot of conversations, appreciate the fact that David [Stearns] and his staff kept me in the loop,” Mendoza said. “I’m treating the day, whether it was today, yesterday, last week, the same thing. My job is to manage the 26 guys and to win a baseball game every night.”
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