QUEENS, NY — Reed Garrett did not mince his words following his appearance in the sixth inning of Wednesday afternoon’s doubleheader opener.
“It sucked,” he began. “No other way to put it. Just sucked today.”
The veteran right-handed reliever entered with one out in that fateful frame with the Mets leading 2-1, inheriting a runner on first that had been walked by starter Clay Holmes.
The first pitch he threw was the cutter, his usual go-to pitch. Milwaukee’s Brice Turang turned on it and ripped it down the left-field line to score Yelich from first to tie the game.
On the very next pitch he threw, also a cutter, Isaac Collins lined a single to left to move Turang to third and walked Jake Bauers to load the bases.
“I feel like hitters are adjusting to him and being aggressive on the cutter, so he’s going to have to make some adjustments there,” manager Carlos Mendoza said after the 7-2 loss.
Falling behind 3-1 on Joey Ortiz, he went back to his cutter and, once again, left it hanging. The Brewers’ shortstop jumped on it and sent it over the left-field fence to break the game open and clinch the Mets’ 14th loss in their last 17 games.
“I think they had an approach, that’s fine,” Garrett said. “I’ll have to do some research on myself and see what else I can find out. But, I can promise you, I’ll figure out what it is and do the best I can to be better next time.”
Garrett’s slump has coincided with the Mets’ miserable stretch, which has seen them go from being Major League Baseball’s best team over the first two months of the season to its worst over the last three weeks.
The 32-year-old had been lights out through the beginning of June. In his first 27 appearances — which included zero earned runs allowed in his first 13 outings — he owned a 0.68 ERA with 32 strikeouts.
In his last six innings pitched (eight appearances), he has allowed 10 earned runs (15.00 ERA) with just seven strikeouts compared to four walks.
“I’m not going to make an excuse for myself,” Garrett said. “I’ve got to be better than that. Clay pitched really well today, and I will find a way to be better than what happened today.”
The crux of it all appears to be lying in figuring out that cutter. Opposing batters are hitting .500 (8-for-16) with six walks and two strikeouts.
“I’ll find a way to counter it,” Garrett said. “Just keep throwing my best stuff in the box and challenge them, and go from there. Whatever it is, I’m going to take a look at it and do the best I can to try and figure out how to be better.”
