Seth Lugo Struggles in Suboptimal Start

Stellar Mets reliever Seth Lugo got the start on Thursday evening, and was immediately tackled by an impressive Philadelphia Phillies offense.

Lugo went 1 2/3 innings and gave up six earned runs on eight hits, including four home runs, more than doubling his total for home runs allowed on the year.

Things were going well for Seth, as he struck out Andrew McCutchen swinging to start off the game. That is, before Bryce Harper took the first pitch of his at-bat over the center field wall for a solo home run.

After getting down in the count 3-1 to Alec Bohm, Lugo paid the price, putting a ball over the plate that was crushed to the opposite for another homer. Didi Gregorius then came up and completed the trifecta of back-to-back-to-back home runs, taking a 2-2 fastball over the heart of the plate into the right field stands, erasing the Mets’ lead.

A mound visit to try and calm Lugo down proved to be useless, as the next batter, Jean Segura, tripled to right field. Lugo was able to get Andrew Knapp to strike out swinging before giving up his fourth run of the inning on a single to Adam Haseley.

Lugo did get his third strikeout of the inning to end the frame, getting Phil Gosselin to go down swinging.

Lugo couldn’t settle down in the second, either, as after getting Mickey Moniak and McCutchen to fly and line out, respectively, Harper took him deep for his second homer of the game. Bohm doubled, prompting another mound visit, which again failed to calm the struggling Lugo, as he hit Gregorius to put two runners on.

Segura knocked in the sixth run of the game on a single to center field, and that was it for Lugo.

Since coming into the rotation on August 25, Lugo sports a 4.34 ERA, including a 5.40 ERA over his last three starts. As much as the Mets need starting pitcher help, Lugo will need to improve his starts to cement himself as a possible solution to the rotation for next season.