WASHINGTON, D.C. — For close to 15 minutes after the completion of the Mets’ chaotic 16-7 victory in 12 innings over the Nationals, Mets brass met to discuss the state of the team’s pitching staff.
Carlos Mendoza had emptied the tank to try and score the team’s third straight win. The Mets manager deployed six separate relievers across nine innings to keep the Nationals down. Another — Mets newcomer Daniel Duarte, who was called up earlier in the day — was warming in the 12th.
It is one of the fears with the way the Mets rotation is constructed at this point in the season. Sean Manaea and David Peterson, who were once in the rotation, now find seats in the bullpen, albeit in different roles. And the starting unit has been tagged by injuries, with Kodai Senga working back from lumbar spine inflammation and Clay Holmes now down with a fractured fibula.
That construction makes the job of the team’s starting pitchers to get deep in games all the more important.
“At whatever point in the regular season, starting pitching is always the key for guys to go deep in games,” Mendoza said before the game. “But I also feel like we’ve been able to do a good job of protecting guys, giving guys days off and we feel very good with where they’re at and how they’re throwing the baseball.”
Now more than ever, that task looms large on the heels of a 12-inning marathon and seven games into a stretch of 17 days without an off day. Here is how the Mets’ starting rotation is currently situated:
Top of the rotation: Nolan McLean, Freddy Peralta
Holmes had been arguably the Mets’ most dependable starting pitcher before he took a 111 mph line drive from the Yankees’ Spencer off the right leg.
Now, even more could fall on the shoulders of Nolan McLean, who has been up to the task in every way 17 games into his major league career, dating back to last August.
McLean is coming off his second win of the season as he improved to 2-2 with a gutsy seven-inning effort against the Tigers. He gave up a three-run home run in the first inning then gave up four hits and two walks from that point on to match his longest outing of the season.
With the third-most strikeouts in the NL (64), along with a 2.92 ERA and 0.96 WHIP, McLean is putting himself in the early conversation for Rookie of the Year.
Freddy Peralta has pitched at a similar level before – he finished fifth in Cy Young voting last season – but only three of his 10 starts have gone six innings this season. That has been the lone flaw for Peralta in his first season with the Mets. He tends to keep opponents down and keep the Mets in the game; he’s only allowed more than three earned runs once. But free passes have hurt him. He’s allowed 2.5 walks per game so far this season.
Somewhere in the middle: Christian Scott, David Peterson
The bulk role out of the bullpen behind an opener has suited David Peterson since the middle of April.
While Peterson is not taking the ball in the first inning, he has pitched pretty much every six days, mostly behind Huascar Brazoban.
Peterson is 2-0 with a 2.25 ERA and 1.20 WHIP in 20 innings across five bullpen appearances, compared to 0-4 with a 8.10 ERA and 1.89 WHIP in 23⅓ innings in five starts.
Christian Scott’s efforts have grown substantially in recent weeks after he began the season in Triple A.
The righty has also kept the Mets in games, avoiding any major blow-ups but laboring through some lengthy innings. He has only thrown five innings once this season but never given up more than three earned runs.
In Scott’s latest outing, he showed flashes with five straight outs out of the gate, but needed 52 pitches to get through the second and third innings, allowing three runs on four hits, two walks and a hit batter in those frames.
Scott’s WHIP is 1.47 through five starts after missing all of the 2025 season while recovering from Tommy John surgery.
Make the most of it: Zach Thornton (maybe Jonah Tong, Jack Wenninger)
The first glimpse of 24-year-old left-hander Zach Thornton will come on Wednesday on the day that Holmes would have started.
Thornton will either start or piggyback another reliever, similar to Peterson’s role, in his major league debut in the third game of the series.
Thornton has only pitched in two games at the Triple-A level, but showed promise, allowing a combined three earned runs in 12 innings across two quality starts. While he does not blow opponents away, he has shown some of the best control in the minor leagues, after walking 11 total batters in 72⅔ innings last season.
The Mets went with Thornton at least in part because the Nationals boast a lefty-heavy lineup, with their key pieces, James Wood, CJ Abrams and Daylen Lille, all batting from the left side. The Mets could go a different direction in next turn depending how Thornton performs.
Jonah Tong was in consideration for Wednesday’s start. After making his big league debut last season, Tong returned to Triple A to get more seasoning this season and has seen mixed results. He’s 1-3 with a 5.68 ERA and 1.37 WHIP in nine starts for Syracuse.
Jack Wenninger has been a marvel in his first Triple A season. The 24-year-old right-hander is 3-1 with a 1.51 ERA, 1.21 WHIP and 39 strikeouts in 35⅔ innings but has only made nine starts at the top minor league level.
This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: State of Mets’ rotation with Zach Thornton instead of Jonah Tong