D.J. Carrasco pitched in relief last night and managed to get through his 1 1/3 innings of duty without hitting anyone in the back with a baseball even after giving up yet another home run.
Yet that wasn’t enough to keep the Mets from cutting ties with the relief pitcher by designating him for assignment immediately following the Reds’ 6-3 victory last night at Citi Field.
“Nobody ever wants that,” Carrasco said. “It’s something that’s a bump on a road.”
Carrasco might never know whether it was his pitches that were hit over the fence or the one he planted in the back of Brewers slugger Ryan Braun that sent him packing. It was the drilling of Braun on Wednesday night that triggered a sequence of events that ended in a heated dugout exchange between David Wright and manager Terry Collins.
Perhaps Carrasco now has gotten the message that hitting an opposing player for no reason is frowned upon by the Mets, especially when others players like Wright might have to bear the brunt of his actions.
There were no incidents last night. Not even in the eighth inning when Carrasco entered the game with two outs and promptly gave up a two-run homer run to Todd Frazier for the Reds margin of victory. Carrasco managed to get the final out in the eighth and retire the Reds in order in the ninth, which is why his release after the game was a bit of a head scratcher.
Carrasco had sworn drilling Braun was an accident, though the pitch could have been viewed as intentional because it came after a Rickie Weeks home run. Expecting the Brewers to retaliate, Collins pulled Wright from the game when the Mets came to bat. Wright argued vehemently with Collins to take his at-bat and face the consequences as television cameras caught their intense exchange in the Mets dugout.
It was one of those rare situations where both men were right. Collins was protecting his player. Wright was protecting his reputation.
Offering his applause was Reds manager Dusty Baker. “That sounds like David Wright to me,” Baker said before last night’s game. “That’s the kind of cat you want.”
Wright’s intentions also were applauded within his clubhouse.
“The message I thought was neat in that was, ‘Look, nobody is more important than the next guy,’ ” pitcher R.A. Dickey said yesterday. “That’s a neat thing. ‘Don’t protect me because I’m the superstar. I’m just like these other guys that are fighting just as hard.’ To see that in action was refreshing.”
Perhaps the most important thing is Collins and Wright emerged from the incident with their mutual respect for each other intact.
“If I’ve said it once, I’ve said it a million times, Terry and I have a great relationship,” Wright said. “I love playing for him. That’s just not talk. I really enjoy it. There’s absolutely no issue. No matter what the decision is, he’s the manager. Not only do I respect that position, I respect him personally because he’s been great for me. “
You can’t blame Collins for being gun shy. He already was without starting pitcher Mike Pelfry, outfielder Jay Bay, shortstop Ruben Tejada and catcher Josh Thole because of injuries. Wright already is playing with a broken pinky and Collins wants nothing else to disturb his best player, who is .402.
“What I didn’t need was for him to get one in the middle of the back to where all of a sudden he can’t bend over and we lose him for two or three days,” Collins said.
Instead of fretting over Wright, the Mets might need to be more concerned about bullpen that has struggled of late. At least the Mets won’t have to worry about Carrasco drilling anyone in the back anymore.