Mets’ call-ups disrupt flow, but 51s enter break atop division
Like a Las Vegas gambler riding wild swings of fortune before walking away a winner, the 51s experienced extreme highs and lows in the first half of their Pacific Coast League season, but will enter the Triple-A All-Star break today with a commanding division lead.
After opening the season 6-8, Las Vegas embarked on a franchise-record 14-game winning streak and won 18 of 20 games to improve to 24-10. Mets rookie pitchers Noah Syndergaard and Steven Matz each collected three wins during the sizzling stretch.
However, as Syndergaard and several other 51s players were summoned to the parent club in New York, Las Vegas dropped 17 of its next 22, capped by a 10-game losing streak.
The resilient 51s (53-38) — who have sent 10 players to the Mets who started the season in Las Vegas — have since risen again, winning six straight to take an eight-game lead over the El Paso Chihauhaus. They ended the first half of the season with a 5-4 win over the Salt Lake Bees on Saturday at Cashman Field.
“It’s been a roller coaster,” 51s manager Wally Backman said. “There’s been so much movement this year. When you have that much movement, I think it affects the chemistry of the club. We win all those games together, (the Mets) take a few guys and all of a sudden it’s just not the same chemistry in the clubhouse. Then we gain a couple guys from somewhere else, they blend in with the rest of the players and they start playing well again.
“Even through all that, we have (an eight-)game lead.”
Syndergaard (3-0, 1.82 ERA) and Matz (7-4, 2.19), who was promoted to the Mets on June 28, were a dominant duo for the 51s and have been equally impressive in the majors, though Matz will be out for at least three weeks after being diagnosed Thursday with a partially torn lat muscle.
When all of New York’s young guns — Syndergaard, Matz, Matt Harvey, Jacob deGrom and the injured Zack Wheeler — are healthy, Backman begrudgingly said the rotation will be more talented than the one he played behind on the 1986 Mets world title team.
“It’s a dominating pitching staff. You can’t ask for a better five than that,” he said. “For me to say this … if they’re all healthy at the same time, it’s better than the starting staff we had in ’86, and we won 108 games.”
Las Vegas has weathered the losses to the big leagues of its top two pitchers and top two catchers (Kevin Plawecki, Johnny Monell) with a potent offense, speed and a solid bullpen.
Veteran third baseman Alex Castellanos is among the league leaders in hitting (.314), homers (16) and RBIs (56), and second baseman Wilfredo Tovar is second in the PCL in stolen bases (23).
With 75 steals, the 51s already are close to surpassing last season’s total of 76.
Shortstop Matt Reynolds and outfielder Travis Taijeron were each named to the PCL All-Star team, which will play the International League stars at 5 p.m. Wednesday in a game that will be televised by the MLB Network (314).
Reynolds is second on the team in runs (55) and RBIs (48), and Taijeron is second in homers (15).
The bullpen, which has stayed largely intact, has been led by Scott Rice (2.45 ERA), Silverado High School graduate Chase Bradford (3.63, team-leading seven saves), John Church (3.72), Zach Thornton (3.83) and Chase Huchingson (0.66), who allowed his first earned run Saturday in 13 games since being called up from Double-A Binghamton in June.
“The bullpen has picked up a lot of slack,” Backman said.
Along with Syndergaard, Matz, Plawecki and Monell, the Mets have called up Eric Campbell, Hansel Robles, Jack Leathersich, Logan Verrett, Darrell Ceciliani and Danny Muno, who was summoned to New York on Friday for the fifth time this season.
“It’s about development, but I think winning is part of that, because if you’re winning, everybody’s doing something right to contribute,” said Ceciliani, who was optioned to Las Vegas on Monday after spending almost two months with the Mets. “It starts at the top with the coaching staff here. They want the best for us, but they also demand the best from us.”
Backman, the 2014 PCL Manager of the Year, has guided Las Vegas to back-to-back 81-win seasons and division titles for the first time in franchise history, and he likes his team’s chances to repeat those feats again this season.
“We look pretty good going into the second half,” he said. “We’re going to be a little more consistent basically because all those guys are up in the big leagues, and if guys get healthy in the big leagues and come back, that’s only going to make our team get better again.
“We’re on the right track right now. We have some depth in pitching. We just need to play consistent baseball. We’re still a good baseball team.”
Contact reporter Todd Dewey at tdewey@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0354. Follow him on Twitter: @tdewey33.