The Mets’ bullpen was really put to the test on Thursday night.
Griffin Canning cruised his way through the first two innings against the Braves, but he was forced to leave the game in the third after suffering what appears to be an Achilles injury coming off the mound awkwardly.
Austin Warren, who was recalled prior to the game, then entered and picked up right where Canning left off.
After putting the finishing touches on the third, the right-hander put together 2.1 scoreless innings of work, allowing just one baserunner and striking out two in his second big league appearance of the season.
“The adrenaline kicked in right away and took over,” Warren said postgame. “Mendy told me every time I came in just to keep filling it up, I knew they needed a couple of innings out of me and pitch count is a big thing — defense made some plays behind me, I had some punchouts and it all just worked out.”
Dedniel Núñez followed that up with arguably his best outing of the season — retiring all six batters he faced over two scoreless innings of his own, and striking out the side in the top of the seventh.
Núñez looked back to his dominant form from last year and he’s now gone seven consecutive appearances without allowing a run.
“First of all, I’m just grateful to God for my health,” Núñez said through an interpreter. “But today I felt really good, I was able to attack the hitters like I did last year and I was really just able to focus in on executing my pitches, and I was able to help the team in any way I could.”
Ryne Stanek then delivered his third consecutive scoreless appearance before Edwin Diaz came on and put the finishing touches on the victory in the top of the ninth.
Overall, the bullpen combined to allow just two hits over 6.1 scoreless innings as they locked up the series split.
“Unbelievable job,” Carlos Mendoza said. “Once Griff goes down, you hate to see it and in the back of my mind, it’s like how are we going to get through nine innings — for Warren to finish that inning, then go out for the fourth and fifth, just throwing strikes and giving us a chance.
“Then Núñez probably the best we’ve seen out of him, more like the Núñez we saw last year consistently — the velo, the slider, throwing strikes. I wanted to stay away from Stanek, but him coming in there with just seven pitches and then Sugar finishing it off, just a hell of a job from the bullpen.”
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