The Mets were cruising to their seventh win in a row on Saturday night. It was 5-1 in the ninth inning, so Terry Collins summoned Carlos Torres from the bullpen.
Torres had worked in four of the last six games, but he’s known to have a versatile, rubber arm, as he proved in 2014.
But, it was not this Torres’ night.
He had no command of his fastball. In fact, he threw one all the way to the backstop and it was consistently tailing up and in towards the right-handers, an indication he was flying open and possibly fatigued from the heavy workload he’s had early in his league leading seven appearances.
“It’s hard,” Collins said after the game. “We just thought let’s get to the ninth inning and we can piece it together. But Carlos didn’t have very good stuff tonight.”
Collins was forced to turn to the other Torres in the bullpen, Alex Torres, in an unexpected save situation with the tying run on and two outs.
“We have to be ready every time, every game,” Alex Torres said last night. “I’m just waiting for opportunities.”
Alex Torres is untested in save chances. In fact, he didn’t have one in his big league career coming into last night’s game.
He was forced into a tense situation. A few moments earlier, the Mets were en route to a convincing victory and a series win over the Marlins. Suddenly, there was doubt either was taking place on Saturday night. Collins was without the services of Jerry Blevins, who has dominated left-handers early in the season, or his closer Jeurys Familia, so it was left to the other Torres.
And, he came up aces.
Torres fanned Christian Yelich to record the final out, and deliver a series win and the club’s seventh win in a row, much to the delight of the sellout crowd at Citi Field.
“You know what, I liked that, with the crowd standing up for the last out,” Torres said, after the game.
After a rough debut in Washington, Alex Torres has settled in over his last three appearances. He’s allowed a hit and two walks with three strikeouts in three innings over that span.
Command has always been an issue for Torres, but he’s shown to be effectively wild over the course of his career, holding opponents to a .196 average in 117 games. He isn’t a typical left-handed specialist, considering he’s been stingier against righties than he has against lefties. But, he’s still held left-handers to a .215 average in his career, showing that when he’s throwing strikes, he can get them out.
And on Saturday, he did just that against the lefty Yelich, fanning him to end the game and recording his first career save.
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