New York Mets pitcher Logan Verrett is pitching for his — and the Mets’ — season.

Logan Verrett has been thrust into the role of stopper.

If he doesn’t effectively halt the bleeding, it may be his last role in the big leagues for a while.

The 26-year-old right hander is all that stands between the Mets and a six-game deficit in the National League East.

After general manager Sandy Alderson acknowledged that Steven Matz has a bone spur in the back of his pitching elbow, which will need to be removed no later than this offseason, Verrett got the call for a spot start opposite Max Scherzer in what could be his most important appearance yet.

This season has been quite ominous for the Baylor University alum. After tossing 17.1 IP in March/April to the tune of a 0.52 ERA, Verrett’s earned-run average has ballooned to 4.14.

The bulk of these struggles have come on the road, where he’s posted a harrowing 6.41 ERA. Opponents are batting .325 against him outside of Citi Field, and his WHIP is significantly higher.

Still, even if there is a correlation between his struggles and the venue that he pitches in, something else is wrong.

Whether it’s an injury that he’s not disclosing or a hitch in his pitching motion that nobody’s been unable to uncover, something’s up.

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Terry Collins’ squad might not wait for this issue to materialize before he ousts Verrett from Flushing, New York.

But, of course, Verrett can be the effective spot starter he was at the start of this season and the conclusion of last, and many of these worries would subdue.

Tonight’s contest is a huge one for the Amazin’s — and Logan Verrett.


Injury Notes

  • Despite bone spurs, Matz will continue to pitch, albeit against a ferocious Chicago Cubs lineup a couple of days following his original scheduled start.
  • Noah Syndergaard was also diagnosed with a small bone spur, but he, well… he denies it.

  • Juan Lagares played seven innings in center field and went 1-4 with a strikeout and a run scored in the first game of his rehab assignment for Double-A Binghamton. With Alejandro De Aza evoking memories of Chris Young and John Mayberry Jr., the team needs him back in blue and orange.
  • Mets reliever Hansel Robles finally faltered against the Nats, surrendering two walks and two runs before taking a comebacker off his leg in the bottom of the seventh inning. While Collins claims that Robles is fine, the skipper noted that he likely won’t be available to pitch in the final game of the series.
  • NY Post reporter Mike Puma states that Gabriel Ynoa — and not Rafael Montero — may be the next man up in case of an injury. “Montero has taken a step back,” a source told The Post. Ynoa is 9-3 with a 3.77 ERA in 100.1 innings at Triple-A Las Vegas this season.
  • Curtis Granderson “just started feeling a little discomfort this weekend in Atlanta,” and might not be in the lineup after he crashed into the right-field fence last night.

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Justin Weiss is a staff editor at Elite Sports New York, where he covers the New York Islanders and Brooklyn Cyclones. In 2016, he received a Quill Award for Freelance Journalism. He has written for the Long Island Herald, FanSided and YardBarker.