MLB

Mets pitching coach has starters on roll

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PITTSBURGH — The glue holding together the hottest starting rotation in the major leagues for the last three weeks will celebrate his third anniversary as Mets pitching coach on Friday.

Pitching coach Dan Warthen is having a blast. It helps when your pitchers not only follow directions, but have success. The Mets have a 2.54 ERA from starting pitchers over their last 18 games, since May 26, and Warthen has certainly played a part.

Mike Pelfrey made it nine straight superb starts for Mets pitchers by allow ing two earned runs over seven innings in a 3-1 loss to the Pirates last night.

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“[Warthen] is always reinforcing the thing we need to hear,” R.A. Dickey said. “I think that’s one of his best attributes, that he knows us each individually and what we need to hear.”

The Mets rotation struggled early, but Warthen attributes the recent turnaround to several factors.

“I was not pleased early on about the catching and a lot of the game-calling that was going on,” Warthen said. “I certainly don’t blame it on the catchers. I blame it on the pitchers for not shaking their heads to the pitches they should have been throwing.”

There have been other changes.

“These past three weeks we’ve added a couple of pitches,” Warthen said. “[Chris] Capuano is throwing a cutter now. We weren’t using [Jon] Niese’s curveball enough. . . . [Now] he throws it 70 percent of the time for strikes, and that’s an incredible number. Getting him to utilize that pitch is important.”

Warthen wasn’t even sure he’d be returning to the Mets this season, after his status was put on hold during last fall’s managerial search. When Terry Collins was hired, the manager initially lobbied for his longtime friend, Dave Wallace, to become the pitching coach, but was sold on Warthen by the front office.

Collins has no complaints about the choice.

“[Warthen] has done a great job,” Collins said. “His relationship with this staff over the last couple of years has grown and grown, and they believe in him. They buy into him, and it’s helped. His preparation is outstanding.”

Catcher Josh Thole says Warthen’s best attribute is the confidence he helps instill in players.

“It’s easy to go about your confidence when things are going good,” Thole said. “But when you run through a tough skid, as every team is going to, it’s the confidence he keeps pumping into these guys and pumping into myself and Ronny [Paulino]. That’s where you really see more of what Dan really brings to these guys.”

mpuma@nypost.com