MLB

Mets’ bullpen has been lights out

The Mets have held their opponents scoreless for the past 17 innings, and the bullpen has been a big reason why. Kyle Farnsworth — installed as the closer on Sunday — tossed a scoreless ninth inning for his first save since last Sept. 29 with Pittsburgh.

“Kyle’s one of those guys when you’ve thrown a lot of bullets, they take a while to get ready. … He hit 96 [mph]. That’s pretty good. If he continues to build up his arm strength, he’s going to really help us.’’

Carlos Torres threw a scoreless two-thirds of an inning, and has a 0.79 ERA in his last eight games, while Scott Rice got a huge out to end the seventh.

“[Torres’] was a big out, and so was Scott Rice’s. Our bullpen has done a good job, after that first series where I’m not sure what happened. They settled down, throwing the ball with much more command of their stuff than they did early and they pitched very well lately,’’ Collins said.

“I’m not trying so hard, not pressing so much slowing myself down and concentrating more on each individual pitch,’’ said Rice. “I started off the season in a funk and I’m trying to work my way out of it.’’

Still, with Bobby Parnell out for the season, Farnsworth at 38 isn’t the long-term solution, which begs the question: Who is?

Collins admitted Monday he has no idea who his setup man is.

“Right now, I couldn’t tell you,’’ Collins said before the game. “[Monday] maybe [Carlos] Torres in the eighth inning. I don’t know.’’

The Mets went to look at free-agent reliever Joel Hanrahan, who auditioned for clubs last week as he comes back from Tommy John surgery

“Bullpen has been an issue for us for a while. He’s out there and available; why shouldn’t we take a look at him and see how he’s progressing?’’ general manager Sandy Alderson asked rhetorically. “We had seen him before so he’s definitely made progress from the last time we saw him.’’


David Wright had a third-inning RBI single and is batting .370 in a 12-game hitting streak.

Daniel Murphy swiped his 25th straight stolen base in the sixth.


The Mets sent Andrew Brown to Triple-A Las Vegas to clear a roster spot from the promoted Bobby Abreu.