Adam Ottavino worked himself into and out of a bases-loaded situation in a seven-run game in the ninth inning Thursday to preserve the Mets’ first shutout victory of the season.
Carlos Mendoza had to get closer Edwin Diaz up in the bullpen as Ottavino allowed a single, hit a batter and walked one — with two wild pitches — in the veteran reliever’s second straight adventurous appearance.
Mendoza and Ottavino both chose to accentuate the three strikeouts the righty managed to escape the scoreless frame.
“Adam executed pitches against some good left-handed hitters,” Mendoza said. “Look, he’s going through it right now. He got in trouble today and got out of it.
“I think he didn’t back down. I saw more conviction, especially when he had the bases loaded. … That’s the guy I’ve seen in the past, we’ve seen it earlier in the year, and I’m pretty sure he’s going to get back on track here pretty soon.”
Ottavino has posted a 4.89 ERA over 36 appearances this season, also including allowing two earned runs while recording one out in his previous outing on Tuesday.
“I don’t feel like I’m not going. I feel like I pitched poorly in the last game. But before that I was rolling pretty good,” said Ottavino, who had allowed earned runs in two of his previous 12 appearances before Tuesday. “It hasn’t been perfect, but I believe in myself, so I’m just going to throw strike one to the next batter I face and go from there.
“It’s funny, because for a lot of years in my career, [Thursday’s game], that’s been my type of inning. Get myself in trouble, and then strike my way out of it. I haven’t been doing that this year, striking my way out of anything. So that’s something that showed up today and it made me feel good to get out of it.”