WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — In the home stretch of the competition for the Mets’ fifth rotation spot, Joey Lucchesi had a solid but unspectacular start Monday.
The left-hander allowed three earned runs on four hits over 3 ¹/₃ innings with four strikeouts against the Astros. Two of those runs scored on a double against Jerry Blevins, who had replaced him.
With the right hamstring tear that will sideline Carlos Carrasco to begin the season, manager Luis Rojas has already indicated David Peterson will likely assume the fourth spot in the Mets’ rotation. That leaves Lucchesi and Jordan Yamamoto as the top candidates for the fifth spot.
And that job could entail pitching behind an opener, a situation Lucchesi says would be new to him.
“Honestly, I have never experienced that, but it’s out of my control, right?” Lucchesi said on a day the Mets lost 5-4 at The Ballpark of the Palm Beaches. “I’m just going to pitch, do my thing, I can’t really control that. I don’t really think bad of it. There is nothing I can do about it.”
Rojas said he would ensure Lucchesi is comfortable with the situation before potentially using him behind an opener.
Joey Lucchesi AP“To disrupt someone’s routine when he comes in the game like that, it means a lot,” Rojas said. “If something like that is ever going to be done in his case, we will have to definitely talk and see how comfortable he is coming in.”
Yamamoto is expected to pitch in a “B” game on Tuesday. The right-hander was squeezed from the Grapefruit League mix following his outing two starts ago, but Rojas said too much shouldn’t be read into that.
Ultimately, it will come down to who is throwing the ball the best. And this latest appearance may not have hurt Lucchesi’s chances.
“We feel pretty good with him running the game right now,” Rojas said. “He threw the ball real well. He was facing a real tough lineup and struck out three of the first five batters he faced. The pitches were located really well and then the zip on his fastball was good.”
