Trevor May didn’t mince words about his performance Saturday night.
“Worst all year,” the Mets reliever said after allowing a two-run homer to Aaron Judge in the eighth inning that sent his team to an 8-7 loss to the Yankees at Citi Field.
May had been among the team’s most consistent relievers lately, pitching to a 0.90 ERA with 11 strikeouts in his previous 10 appearances. But he encountered immediate trouble on this night, allowing a leadoff single to Brett Gardner in the eighth before Judge belted his second homer of the game to pull the Yankees even.
The right-hander was removed without recording an out, after the ensuing batter, Giancarlo Stanton singled.
“It’s a day when you want to have your best stuff and give the fans what they came to see,” May said, referring to the pregame ceremonies that commemorated the 20th anniversary of 9/11. “I know there’s a lot of extra stuff attached to this baseball game, being a Met, and not being a native of New York City and being here when all this stuff happened, I can definitely feel how this loss can be more emotionally-charged than others.
“All I want to do is flip this table over, but I have to be ready to pitch tomorrow, and that doesn’t help anybody, and we need the Zoom room to work tomorrow.”
May’s rough outing came two days after he joked about his happiness that the games were at Citi Field and not Yankee Stadium, limiting the potential for “314-foot homers” to right field.
“I’m never going to make a comment like that again,” he said. “No more jokes about stadiums. Ever.”
Luis Rojas said he spoke with hitting coach Hugh Quattlebaum recently about a plan to get Dominic Smith on track. Smith, who has been relegated mostly to pinch-hitting, entered play with a .218/.260/.296 slash line since the All-Star break.
“We have talked all year about Dom’s lower half not being involved consistently and those are some of the things he’s talked about with Dom and worked in some exercises so he stays within his legs better and sees the pitch longer and lays off of pitches,” Rojas said.
“He’s been chasing a lot and when he hits the ball it’s been off his legs so that means there hasn’t been a lot behind his swing. There’s some things that he and Q are working on that can bring back the Dom that we know.”
Trevor Williams, whose past two appearances have come in the starting rotation, has returned to a long relief role, according to Rojas. The right-hander was needed in the rotation because of recent doubleheaders against the Marlins and Nationals.
Jose Peraza has been playing center field in his rehab assignment at Triple-A Syracuse to increase his value to the major league club for a potential return. Peraza was placed on the injured list with a fractured right middle finger on July 20.