Clay

Holmes

Holmes allowed three hits and walked one while getting up to 63 pitches today. Of Team USA’s WBC starters, Holmes might be best equipped to deliver a five-inning outing during the tournament.

Holmes allowed just one hit, but it was a two-run homer from Kazuma Okamoto. The homer came on the new curveball he’s been working on this spring. Everything else was working nicely today. His velocity faded in the third, but before that, he was a tad above last year’s norms.

Clay Holmes, too. While it’s exciting news, we don’t really love this idea for McLean, since it could add to the injury risk. Primarily a position player at Oklahoma State, McLean has seen his innings count jump from 33 in 2023 (the year he was drafted) to 110 in 2024 and to 162 last season. There haven’t been any red flags yet, but having the 24-year-old fully amped and facing, say, a loaded Dominican Republic lineup in March might not be the best thing.

Holmes was outstanding in his final regular season start, shutting out the Marlins over six innings. He allowed just one hit and walked three batters while collecting two strikeouts. The 32-year-old right-hander ends the regular season with a 3.53 ERA, 1.30 WHIP, and a 129/66 K/BB ratio across 165 2/3 innings.

Both Sean Manaea and Holmes allowed four hits, walked none and struck out three today. Manaea, though, allowed three of his hits in a row and the third was a 374-foot homer from Nasim Nuñez. Funny enough, the longest fly Holmes allowed was also to Nuñez, but that 379-footer was an out. We’re guessing Holmes will start over Manaea next week against the Marlins, but things could be very much up in the air, based on whether or not the Mets need to win those games or not.

Manaea draws the starting assignment for Sunday’s series finale against the Nationals with Clay Holmes to follow in a piggyback role. The limited workload eliminates his fantasy appeal outside of deeper mixed leagues. The 33-year-old southpaw has pitched well earlier this week in a five-inning relief outing against the Padres, which is a good sign for the Mets heading towards the postseason.

Manaea will be followed by Clay Holmes in a piggyback outing. The 33-year-old southpaw was removed from New York’s rotation earlier this month, but has pitched well in relief ever since. He’ll he activated from paternity leave to take the ball for Sunday’s pivotal showdown.

It was known that Holmes and Sean Manaea would be working in tandem tonight, but it was still fairly surprising to see the Mets pull Holmes with an 8-2 lead after four innings, denying him his 12th win of the year. Holmes did allow two homers, but that was the only damage, and he was at just 53 pitches through four. Holmes figures to pitch again Sunday against the Nationals, though it’s possible he could relieve Manaea then.

Holmes endured a painful, 29-pitch first inning that included two hit batsmen and two hits which led to two runs. He seemed to settle in over the next few innings, but was finally pulled after he gave up two hits to begin the fifth and that inherited runner would come around to score. This feels like a clear case where Holmes has run out of gas, eclipsing 150 innings in his first full season as a starter when his previous career-high was just 70. He had just a 2.99 ERA on July 4th and that’s climbed to a 3.75 ERA after this start. Still respectable, just not someone who we should consider trusting in our lineups at this point in the season. Holmes has a tough start against the Padres up next.

In a 1-1 game with one on and two outs, Holmes was left in to face Kerry Carpenter with a lefty ready in the pen in the fifth. Carpenter walked, Gregory Soto was brought in to face Riley Greene and a two-run single followed. It was an odd sequence from manager Carlos Mendoza made worse later when Carpenter, who might have been lifted for a pinch-hitter had the Mets gone to the lefty, hit a three-run homer off Ryan Helsley to put away the game in the eighth. Holmes took the loss, leaving him 11-7 with a 3.61 ERA through 28 starts. He’ll face the Phillies next week.