MIAMI — The Mets ran out of pitchers.
With an off-day Thursday and knowing he had a nearly full stable of arms who could be used, manager Carlos Mendoza seemed determined to use that full stable.
He might have been able to squeeze more than 85 pitches from Clay Holmes, but Holmes encountered two-on, two-out trouble in the fifth, and Mendoza turned to Reed Garrett to extinguish the fire.
Then A.J. Minter got work and was not sharp, charged with two runs in a seventh inning Ryne Stanek had to finish. After Pete Alonso tied the game with a home run in the top of the eighth, Edwin Díaz pitched an eventful but scoreless bottom of the eighth.
José Buttó was excellent in the ninth and 10th, but the game extended into the 11th, when Danny Young inherited a two-run lead, watched it get trimmed to one, and Mendoza called for Huascar Brazobán with the tying run on second base and the winning run on first with one out.
The only other arm in the bullpen at that point was Max Kranick, who had thrown three innings Tuesday and was not available.
Which meant Brazobán was going to continue pitching until the game ended, regardless of the inning.
“It was his game,” Mendoza said after Brazobán stepped up to finish his game.
The 35-year-old, fourth-year big leaguer picked a timely moment for his first career save, escaping danger with a pair of clutch outs and showing the kind of slow heartbeat that late-game relievers need in an exhale of a 6-5, 11-inning win over the Marlins at loanDepot Park on Wednesday.
Against the Marlins, with whom he pitched in 97 games from 2022-24 before the deadline trade that sent him to Queens, Brazobán got his first chance to close the door.
First Jonah Bride lofted a fly ball to right field to advance the tying run to third base.
With two outs, Brazobán continually turned to his best pitch: Four hard sinkers later, the final one dotted on the outside corner, Otto Lopez had struck out and Brazobán could pump his fist.
“It’s really different,” he acknowledged, through interpreter Alan Suriel, of the emotions of nailing down a game rather than pitching in the earlier innings. “It’s almost like the game is a little bit quicker in a situation like that.”
Díaz’s job is not in danger, but Brazobán — whose roster spot was not even ensured until Paul Blackburn landed on the injured list just before the season began — has made a strong case to remain a part of this bullpen.
In his first two outings of the season, he saved other relievers’ arms by establishing he could take down multiple innings, throwing 2 ¹/₃ scoreless innings in his season debut before tossing two scoreless innings in his next outing.
In his third, he needed to record anywhere from two to infinity outs. Thankfully for him and the Mets, he required the minimum.
“Pretty impressive,” Mendoza said.
