MLB

Darin Ruf brings righty DH bat, October experience to Mets

WASHINGTON — Darin Ruf’s proficiency against lefties and his veteran experience are two key attributes he brings to the Mets, and his taste of playoff baseball last season with the Giants certainly doesn’t hurt.

“I think it’s very valuable to get that first sense of the pressure and attention that especially, we played the Dodgers last year, it was quite the fanfare,” Ruf said Wednesday upon reporting to the Mets, a day after he was acquired in a deal that sent J.D. Davis and three minor leaguers to San Francisco.

“Hopefully it’s very valuable and you know what to expect going forward, how much attention is paid every single game.”

Ruf is expected to receive most of his action as the DH against lefty pitchers, but manager Buck Showalter said he could also play first base on occasion, allowing Pete Alonso a turn at DH.

The Mets liked Ruf because of his .886 OPS against lefties.

Darin Ruf
Darin Ruf Getty Images

Mychal Givens, acquired in a trade with the Cubs for minor league pitcher Saul Gonzalez, was inserted for the ninth inning Wednesday against the Nationals and allowed five earned runs — including two homers. Seth Lugo was needed to record the game’s final out in a 9-5 Mets win.

“Mike’s had four days off, a long trip, he is going to be good for us,” Showalter said.


Trevor May, who returned from the injured list after a three-month absence, said his 8.64 ERA in eight appearances this season is largely a product of the stress reaction in his right arm that ultimately sidelined him. The reliever also said he was too quick in trying to implement a split-fingered fastball — a pitch he plans to use more judiciously.

“It comes down to, there was diminished stuff,” May said before throwing a scoreless eighth inning Wednesday. “It came to my attention that learning the splitter as quickly as I did I developed a couple of bad habits that might have contributed to not feeling as good. … Historically splitters are like that.

“I learned my slider real quickly, so I just assumed I would pick up pitches quickly, but that is really one of those things you don’t know until you know. The combination of, if I am not fully focused on getting a guy out and half-focused on, ‘Am I going to get this guy out?’ — it’s just really hard to compete at any level.”


Stephen Nogosek and Yoan Lopez were optioned to Triple-A Syracuse to clear roster space for Givens and May. Kramer Robertson was designated for assignment to clear space for Ruf.