The New York Mets’ worst weekend of the season pivoted in Friday’s sixth inning.New York had just extended its lead over the Tampa Bay Rays to 5-1 and appeared poised for its seventh consecutive victory. With Clay Holmes working on a tight pitch count, the Mets turned to Paul Blackburn out of the bullpen. It was the perfect script for the club, which wanted Blackburn to pitch multiple innings to stay fresh for his start this week in Atlanta.Blackburn’s outing lasted five batters, with four of them scoring. By the end of the inning, Tampa Bay had the lead, and the Mets have held it for all of about 10 minutes since.The decision to go with Blackburn in that spot highlighted the delicate balance the Mets are attempting to walk with their pitching staff. Specifically, they’re trying to keep an eye on long-term health while still piling up wins in the here and now.Beyond anything else, the Mets’ pitching staff has been the prime mover of their success this season. The starting rotation has been outstanding all year, the last two days notwithstanding, and the bullpen has received important contributions from a wide range of arms.The best chance of preserving that staff-wide success is not leaning too heavily on anyone. So it’s pulling Holmes after just 79 pitches because he felt elevated soreness after pitching at the Colorado Rockies. It’s trying to stay away from the most important relievers when the game permits it. It’s occasionally thinking less about today than down the line — always a difficult tightrope to walk in New York.To that end, the club has internally discussed regularly piggybacking starters in the second half of the season. It would capitalize on the enviable starting depth the Mets have compiled while also keeping their core relievers fresher through the rest of the season.The upside is what happened in the series finale in Colorado last week, when Blackburn took the ball from Tylor Megill and carried it through the finish line in a blowout win. Without a game Monday, New York’s relievers received two straight days off. (It’s perhaps not coincidental that the unit delivered 4 2/3 scoreless innings, allowing a single hit, in Tuesday’s extra-innings win over the Washington Nationals.)The downside is what you saw Friday. If a starter doesn’t have it in the unusual role of relief, it can get ugly fast. And you end up needing to use other relievers anyway.The last four days on the whole were a quick comedown for the staff after David Peterson’s brilliant shutout Wednesday. Kodai Senga hit the injured list, his replacement was lit up as a longman, and Megill and Griffin Canning combined to allow 12 runs in eight innings Saturday and Sunday. It’s the first real adversity to hit the staff since the spring injuries to Frankie Montas and Sean Manaea, and it rebounded then better than the Mets could imagine. How does the staff handle adversity now?
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