Luke Weaver had just delivered the relief outing of the season, two innings of near perfection that included a bases-loaded, no-outs escape that was the difference-making moment in the game.
But Weaver, who loves the big stage and enjoys talking about it, wanted a little win-one-for-the-Gipper drama of as well.
So he sought out Clay Holmes afterward and said, “That was for you. I had your name in my hat and everything.”
As he told the story to reporters, Weaver then grinned sheepishly and admitted, “I actually didn’t have his name in my hat, but it sounded good.”
Weaver laughed. Reporters laughed. The Mets needed a little levity almost as much as they needed a win, one night after Holmes’ injury seemed to knock the wind out of them.
In that sense Weaver said his outing and the 6-3 win over the Yankees at Citi Field Saturday night was a tribute to Holmes, who suffered a fractured fibula Friday night, an injury that hit the team so hard because, as Carlos Mendoza said, “of what Clay means to this team, as a competitor and the quality of human.”
It’s an injury that casts a sense of doom over an already-trying season, yet before Saturday’s game the manager said “we’re over it, we’re ready to compete,”
As such they needed a win badly against the Yankees, as they continue to try and play their way out of the huge hole they dug. And they got one, with some help from Carlos Rodon’s wildness, to be sure, but also with clutch hitting and especially some lock-down relief pitching from a bullpen that has rebounded from some early-season hiccups to look formidable lately.
The win evened this edition of the Subway Series and sets up a rubber game on Sunday. Whatever happens, the reality is the Holmes injury is almost certainly going to be the most significant moment of the weekend for the Mets, because of what he has meant to the starting rotation this season.
But that can’t be their mentality, of course. They’re in a day-to-day survival mode, trying to stack wins, believing they’re building on the momentum created by the sweep of the Detroit Tigers, the sense that they’re a better team now that A.J. Ewing and Carson Benge have brought energy and production.
On this night, in fact, Benge had an embarrassing error, dropping a routine fly ball, but he also went 3-for-4 and is hitting .386 over his last 12 games, sparking the offense.
Even more significantly, Juan Soto is heating up and Mark Vientos suddenly seems up to the challenge of hitting behind him, driving in runs from the clean-up spot. With his three RBI on Saturday, Vientos has 14 this month, the fourth-highest such total in the majors.
This night, however, belonged to the bullpen. If you count Huascar Brazoban’s work as an opener for David Peterson as part of the pen, which makes sense, four Mets’ relievers threw a total of five innings, allowing only one run, and that one was unearned.
Peterson was solid in his four innings behind Brazoban, though far from dominant as he allowed six hits and three walks but limited the damage to two runs by making big pitches when he needed to escape trouble.
The Mets keep hoping he’ll find the form that fueled his All-Star first half last year, but it’s starting to look more and more that this is who he is now, an inconsistent pitcher who for whatever reason seems to pitch better when he comes out of the bullpen.
Without Holmes the Mets are going to need better starting pitching from somebody, whether they put Tobias Myers in the rotation or call up someone from the minors. As of Saturday, Mendoza said the decision had not been made.
At the same time, they’re also going to need depth and dominance from the bullpen, and certainly that was the formula on Saturday.
The game really came down to Weaver’s outing. Benge’s error and a fluky bunt single by Jazz Chisolm Jr. contributed to loading the bases with no outs against Brooks Raley in the seventh, at which point Mendoza brought in Weaver to face his old team for the first time.
The righthander struck out both Amed Rosario and Trent Grisham swinging at change-ups, then got Anthony Volpe to ground out to short on a fastball, prompting an emotional reaction.
“Weav was unbelievable,” Mendoza said. “That’s the game right there. He was pretty fired up. I could see it in his body language. And he hit 98 on the gun.”
Because Weaver was so efficient, Mendoza had him pitch the eighth inning as well, and he capped off a scoreless inning by getting Aaron Judge to fly out to center. A moment that Weaver indicated meant a lot to him, based on how much he respects Judge.
“It was a cool opportunity,” Weaver said.
Of his fired-up nature and the body language Mendoza referenced, Weaver said he felt it was a crucial moment for the Mets, coming off what he called “the gut-punch” of seeing Holmes go down.
“I wanted my teammates to know that’s what we’re capable of,” he said. “Sometimes it can feel never-ending (the injuries, the early-season losing) but a win like this, it’s like hitting the refresh button. We needed it.”
Both Weaver and Devin Williams, who pitched a scoreless night for the save, have shaken off their early-season rough patches to deliver dominance in recent weeks and give the Mets reason to believe the bullpen can be a strength of this team.
There is much to prove, of course. Plenty of questions as well. But on this day the Mets answered an important one, by getting off the deck after mourning the Holmes injury and simply winning a game, and a notable one with the atmosphere of the Subway Series.
At least in the moment, it felt meaningful.
