Robert Gsellman gets it done in return to Mets’ rotation
Mets manager Terry Collins saw something he hoped to see and something he never expected to see Wednesday.
What he hoped for, and got, was Robert Gsellman pitching with the aggressiveness he showed last September.
What Collins did not expect to see, but did, was a regulation game.
Gsellman, reinstated from the minors earlier Wednesday, pitched through the rain and threw all six innings as the Mets stormed to a rain-shortened 6-3 victory over the Phillies at Citi Field.
“Every time you get sent down, it’s very eye-opening. You learn a lot and you just come back a little hungrier,” said Gsellman (6-6) who last started for the Mets on Aug. 26 and last won June 10. “I thought I was very aggressive tonight. I was just throwing the ball where I wanted, going with all my pitches, down in the zone.”
And doing it quickly. By the time the umps ordered the tarp on the field at 9:03 p.m., the game was in the bottom of the sixth with one on and one out.
“They said at home plate the rain was coming they thought about 8:30,” Collins said, which he added led him to expect the game would not be completed. “We have not played the fastest games, so I thought we were going to have a tough time getting five in.”
They got more — and an early lead for Gsellman who “pitched great,” according to Collins.
“I certainly saw a different guy on the mound,” the manager said.
The Mets went up 3-0 in the first against Nick Pivetta (5-10) when Asdrubal Cabrera doubled in a run for one of his three hits and Travis d’Arnaud socked a two-run homer, his 11th. Gsellman singled in a run in the third and Brandon Nimmo’s sacrifice flies in the third and fifth brought a 6-0 lead. The Phillies got three runs in the sixth, one unearned, with a Cesar Hernadez RBI double and Nick Williams’ two-run homer.
Michael Conforto underwent surgery in Los Angeles to repair a tear in the posterior capsule in his left shoulder. General manager Sandy Alderson previously put the recuperation at “roughly six months.”
There’s plenty of other injury news for the Mets.
T.J. Rivera will have Tommy John surgery on his right elbow next week. Amed Rosario still is experiencing swelling in his bruised right index finger and remained day-to-day. Wilmer Flores, who broke his nose when he fouled a pitch into his face in Houston, will be reexamined Thursday. On a positive note, Noah Syndergaard will make another rehab start Thursday for Single-A Brooklyn against Staten Island.
In Tuesday’s 9-1 loss to the Phillies, d’Arnaud drove two doubles the opposite way. Collins said he wants to see more of that — and he did as D’Arnaud’s homer Wednesday went to right-center.
“Just hitting it where it’s pitched, not trying to over-swing and just stay short,” d’Arnaud said, crediting his hitting coaches and noting he is “at my best” when he takes what’s given. “Sometimes I over-swing and try to do too much instead of just keep things simple and take what they give me.”
Collins said a strong finish is good for the young guys on his team.
But he noted veteran pitchers Matt Harvey, Jeurys Familia and Syndergaard also could benefit from strong finishes. The Mets want them going into the offseason thinking positively.
“They need to know, No. 1, they’re all healthy and they can go into the offseason with the mindset, ‘I’ve got to get ready to pitch’ and knowing their health’s good, their arms are good, their backs are good or whatever the injury was and that’s behind them,” Collins said. “It’s to go out and do what their normal winter workout is to get ready for spring training instead of saying ‘Geez, am I going to be able to throw? Is my stuff gonna be any good?’ This last month they’ll have an idea of where they are so I think it’s important for them to continue to pitch. … If they go into the winter saying, ‘I’m back,’ that mindset will help.”
Nimmo, Kevin Plawecki, Chasen Bradford and Paul Seward are scheduled to visit Engine 219 Ladder 105 on Dean Street in Brooklyn from noon to 1 p.m. Friday. The Mets annually visit an FDNY firehouse around the anniversary of 9/11 as a way of honoring and thanking to the firefighters.