There was a moment during Friday’s home opener in which the game could have gotten away from the Mets. Clinging to a two-run lead, Mets starter Tylor Megill exited with one out in the sixth inning after issuing back-to-back walks to the Toronto Blue Jays. Red-hot cleanup hitter Andres Giménez loo med on deck. But once again, the Mets’ bullpen delivered. Right-handed reliever Reed Garrett struck out Giménez on four pitches, getting the left-handed hitter to swing over the top of a filthy splitter for the third strike. After a wild pitch moved both baserunners into scoring position, Garrett escaped the jam with another swinging strikeout, this time of All-Star catcher Alejandro Kirk, with a splitter out of the zone. “I think all of us in the bullpen would rather give up our own runs instead of somebody else’s,” Garrett said after the 5-0 win, “so to be able to get Tylor out of that mess is something I value.” Moments like that have become a common occurrence for the Mets to start the season, helping them jump out to a 4-3 record. Their bullpen entered Saturday’s game against the Blue Jays with 1.40 ERA, which was the second best in the majors, and a left-on-base rate of 80.8%, which ranked fifth. Garrett, closer Edwin Diaz, Max Kranick, José Buttó, Ryne Stanek and Huascar Brazobán had each made at least two appearances over that stretch, and none had allowed a run. “We like the guys that we’ve got there, and they keep doing their jobs,” manager Carlos Mendoza said. “There’s a lot of different looks, a lot of different pitch types, righties, lefties, and the biggest thing is coming into the game and attacking the strike zone. They’re doing that.” The Mets’ bullpen ERA of 4.03 ranked 17th in the majors last season, while their left-on-base rate of 69.9% ranked 22nd. This year’s improvements have been over a small sample size, but the Mets have benefited from the additions of Kranick and A.J. Minter, who signed a two-year, $22 million contract in the offseason to fill the left-handed void in last year’s bullpen. Minter, 31, was part of the dominant “Night Shift” relief corps that helped the Atlanta Braves win the 2021 World Series. He likes how this Mets bullpen group features hard-throwers, many of whom boast the versatility to hurl multiple innings or close out games. “You can’t just have strict roles because it takes an army to get through 162 [games],” Minter said. “Guys are going to go on streaks and some guys are going to struggle, and we have a lot of guys who can do multiple things. That’s very good to have.” The bullpen heroics have supported a Mets starting rotation that entered Saturday with a 3.96 ERA, which ranked 25th among MLB staffs. The rotation has been ravaged by injuries, with Sean Manaea (oblique) and Frankie Montas (lat) beginning the season on the injured list. Garrett says the Mets relievers have a “healthy competition,” with everyone building on of each other’s strong outings. They entered Saturday having surrendered only four earned runs in 25.2 innings. “We have nasty stuff down there,” Garrett said. “We have a lot of guys who are going to come in and execute pitches. Everybody’s done an amazing job.” ...read more read less