When you are good at something, it is best to show it off and play to that strength. Of course, Mets manager Carlos Mendoza would probably prefer that starting pitcher Clay Holmes doesn’t make his best attribute too much of a habit.
For Holmes has been elite at stifling opponent batters when there are runners in scoring position, something he did on countless occasions in Saturday’s 8-1 win over the Colorado Rockies.
"I made pitches when I had to,” Holmes said after holding the Rockies to 0-for-8 with RISP to strand eight men on base over his six innings of one-run ball.
On the year, the right-hander has now allowed just six hits out of 50 such opportunities (.120 average) as his ERA shrunk to 2.95 over his first 73.1 innings with the Mets.
“The biggest thing here at [Denver’s Coors Field], some hits are going to fall in, there's a lot of grass out there,” Holmes said after allowing nine hits in total. “I just knew I couldn’t give out any free passes, and I didn’t hand out any walks. And I was able to get the right kind of contact, swing and miss with runners on base, and gave us a chance there.”
The traffic came early with the Rockies having two on and nobody out in the first inning and again in the third, but Holmes avoided any damage with a couple of strikeouts and a timely double-play ball. That helped give his teammates time to snap out of a 0-for-7 stretch with RISP of their own to grab a lead they didn’t relinquish in the top half of the fifth.
Mendoza said Holmes getting ground balls with men on has been his "calling card." And the starter left that message on four occasions in addition to two strikeouts on Saturday.
“Really, really good,” Mendoza said of his starter’s performance. “From the first inning, first and third nobody out, and they made him work and he got out of it… I thought the sinker was good, the slider and the sweeper… were his pitches.”
Not mentioned was the changeup, which Holmes had used 15 percent of the time (third-most on the year). He threw it just one time out of 96 pitches in the game. That tactical switch came about because the slider, which had been his fourth-most-used pitch, just felt right pregame.
“Pitches can move differently [in the altitude] and really I was just going with what felt good,” Holmes said. “Slider felt good in the bullpen. Sinker did, too. But just threw enough sinkers to really lean on the slider, sweeper. Was able to get some chase on both those pitches.”
For the night, he got nine whiffs from 19 swings on his 27 sliders and six whiffs from 19 swings on 33 sweepers. And on the 30 sinkers, he got just one whiff on 12 swings, but 10 called strikes.
He added later: “Really, it’s not trying to do too much here. You just execute your pitches, don't try to overthrow. You give yourself a chance.”
For the closer-turned-starter, there was a doubt whether he would be able to give the Mets length, especially after pitching in several high-traffic, high-stress innings in the Mile High City. But Mendoza decided to send Holmes out for the sixth inning with the Mets up 4-1.
“Definitely started to add up,” Holmes said. “Pitching here as a reliever, you don't really feel [the altitude] a ton, but I started to hit that 70 pitch mark and I was like, 'Man, this feels like I’m at 100.’”
“After five, the altitude and all the [pitches], I thought he was pretty tired,” the manager said. “But for him to finish that sixth, even with two guys got on, was good to see him getting comfortable, finding a way to get the job done and giving us solid six innings.”
Through 13 starts on the year, Holmes said he feels like he’s in a “great spot” in his new role.
“Bouncing back well, feel like we got some routine dialed in,” he said. “Feels nice to throw at least six innings. I feel like I've been able to establish that. How I'm using my pitches, how to get deep into games.
“… Just continue to lean on the trainers, strength coaches, nutritionists. They do a lot and feel like we’ve put a lot of things together that's working for me.”
