NEW YORK — The rest of the New York Mets’ infielders circled manager Carlos Mendoza on the mound as first baseman Pete Alonso kept applauding with every step Sean Manaea took toward the dugout. It felt like everyone in the packed stands at Citi Field followed Alonso’s lead, showering Manaea with a raucous standing ovation. Manaea acknowledged the din by doffing his cap before looking up and blowing a kiss toward the sky to salute someone else.
Several hours earlier, Manaea learned that his aunt, Mabel, had died.
“That game was for her,” he said.
What a way to honor someone.
Manaea pitched seven brilliant innings as the Mets beat the Philadelphia Phillies 7-2, in Game 3 of the National League Division Series on Tuesday to take a 2-1 series lead. He held the Phillies to just one run and three hits. He walked two batters and also hit two batters. But that was the extent of the damage. Manaea struck out six.
He left the game after allowing a single to start the eighth inning and that runner eventually scored after reliever Phil Maton allowed a walk and then a single. With a long, dominant outing, Manaea gave the Mets precisely what they needed in their pennant chase.
“That was Big Boy S—,” reliever Ryne Stanek said.
Sean Manaea says that he kissed the sky on his way off the field in honor of his aunt, who passed away this morning:
“That game was for her.” pic.twitter.com/zM2SKGu8Hr
— SNY (@SNYtv) October 9, 2024
Over this past offseason, Manaea lost his older brother just as he agreed to join the Mets. Manaea then wore No. 59 to honor him. It’s no surprise that in the biggest start of his career and of the Mets’ season, Manaea would carry his aunt’s memory with him to the mound.
“It was a different look today, even though we’ve seen it the whole year,” Mendoza said.
Even though the Mets had a day off Monday, it was imperative for Manaea to go as deep as possible on Tuesday. Put simply, the Mets’ bullpen has been reeling from an unavoidably high workload the past couple of weeks, and signs of fatigue have been showing. Also, the Mets just don’t have a bevy of attractive options for high-leverage situations. Hence why starters David Peterson and Tylor Megill have been deployed late in games as relievers. By providing seven strong innings, Manaea got the job done, and then some.
Manaea masterfully mixed things up.
After throwing just one changeup to a left-handed batter since the All-Star break, the lefty relied on the pitch during a pivotal sixth inning. He threw four left-on-left changeups, none bigger than a swinging strike to start an at-bat against Bryce Harper with runners on first and second and the Mets clinging to a 2-0 lead. Oh, and there were none out.
Just before Harper’s at-bat, pitching coach Jeremy Hefner visited Manaea on the mound. Hefner told Manaea something along the lines of, “You’re the right guy for this situation. Take it one pitch at a time.”
The plan was to go changeup, sweeper, sweeper and then fastball to Harper.
They never needed to unleash the fastball.
Manaea struck out Harper on three pitches using back-to-back sweepers after starting the at-bat with the changeup.
Both the sweeper and changeup effectively complemented the sinker, his main offering. The breakdown looked more diverse than usual. Usually, Manaea throws the sinker 45 percent of the time. Of Manaea’s 91 pitches Tuesday, 37 were sinkers, 27 were sweepers, 23 were changeups and four were four-seam fastballs. He used the sweeper to rack up chases out of the zone and also when he needed strikes in the zone. He challenged with the sinker, even after hard contact in the first inning forced him to utilize it a bit less often. He surprised with the changeup.
“When he can command the slider and the changeup and the fastball, it’s like they have no shot,” catcher Francisco Alvarez said. “When he is like that, it’s unbelievable.”
Despite using it just 11.8 percent of the time during the regular season, Manaea pulled the changeup out of his back pocket after some early success with the pitch. The light went on brighter after Manaea used a changeup to strike out Phillies second baseman Edmundo Sosa in the fifth inning.
“Wow,” Alvarez said he thought to himself. “That was a really good pitch.”
From there, Manaea started throwing it more. He got more outs. That’s when Alvarez considered they could do even more with the pitch and realized Manaea should wield changeups against lefties. It worked, especially against Harper in the biggest spot of the game.
After Harper’s strikeout, Nick Castellanos lined into a double play to end the scoring threat. Manaea hunched over and let out a roar.
Manaea then tossed a 1-2-3 seventh inning.
“It is so hard to have that emotional release and go back out and still keep yourself under control,” Stanek said. “That was, to me, the coolest moment of the game, by far. I loved it.”
“What an amazing job from him today,” Mendoza said.
The Mets signed Manaea over the offseason to stabilize their rotation. Instead, he led it. Through six postseason games, the Mets have received at least six innings from their starting pitcher four times (of note, Kodai Senga’s two-inning start was designed to be short). Manaea’s stands out as the best of the bunch. Now, the Mets are one win away from advancing to the NLCS.
Throughout the season, Mendoza called Manaea a leader. It’s rare for a starting pitcher to receive that kind of praise; they don’t play every day like position players. So, unless it’s an ace or a longtime member of a team, it’s unusual standing. This is Manaea’s first year with the Mets (and it might be his only year; he holds a player option that he will almost certainly exercise to become a free agent). Doesn’t matter. People in the Mets’ clubhouse say the word “leader” fits Manaea.
“He’s vocal, well-respected and beloved here,” Francisco Lindor said. “When you’re right, he tells you. And when you’re wrong, he tells you, too. When you have the respect of your peers and you show up day in and day out, people tend to gravitate toward calling you a leader.”
In late May, when the Mets held their famous players-only meeting, Manaea was one of the many who spoke up. His teammates took Manea’s words to heart. The gist of his message was to have more fun but he also stressed work ethic. Manaea isn’t always a chatterbox and seems more introverted on the surface, but when he talks, people listen, teammates say.
Lindor added with his familiar smile, “And it helps that he’s 6-foot-5.”
Manaea’s height sometimes belies his personality. He does not come across as the least bit menacing. He’s thoughtful and engaged in conversation. He’s funny. And he cares.
After Manaea’s miserable postseason start against the Phillies in 2022 while he was with the San Diego Padres, he vowed to make changes. That offseason, he visited Driveline, gained velocity and adopted a sweeper. The Mets liked what they saw.
It never looked better than Tuesday night.
“His mound presence, his demeanor, like there was something different about him today that I’m just proud of him,” Mendoza said.
(Photo of Sean Manaea: Photo by Elsa / Getty Images)
