​Sean Manaea has not been a staple for deep outings lately, and that’s a trend many Mets starters have shared. He hadn’t reached the six-inning mark more than once all year, continuing a pattern that stretches back to his injury-shortened 2025 campaign. If you extend the benchmark to seven innings, you’d have to go back to September 8, 2024 to find a start of that length for him. Then on Thursday, in his 20th start of the season against the Royals, Manaea finally snapped that stretch. He delivered seven innings, giving up two earned runs on six hits and recording six strikeouts as the Mets rolled to a 7-3 victory and secured the series win. It’s a welcome sign not only for Manaea but for the Mets’ entire rotation, since Nolan McLean is the only Mets starter who has lasted six innings in the past month.
In his July 9 start at Citi Field, Manaea improved his season numbers to a 4.56 ERA with 74 strikeouts heading into the All-Star break. The outing was particularly encouraging for the 34-year-old lefty after he allowed six runs in five innings in his previous start against Atlanta. “It’s a culmination of a lot of hard work and people believing in me, me believing in myself, the whole squad coming together,” Manaea said after the game. “It feels really cool to do something like that again.”
The Mets have been desperate for length from their starters, especially after leaning on their bullpen heavily in recent games. They used seven relievers on Monday, six on Tuesday, and four on Wednesday. Manaea’s seven innings enabled interim manager Andy Green to lean on only Huascar Brazoban and Devin Williams to close out the series against Kansas City, keeping the bullpen fresher for the next matchup. Green noted the importance of that performance, saying it set the team up to win the following day and helped rest most of the bullpen arms.
Even with the favorable result, Manaea’s outing began in rough fashion. His first pitch was driven out of the park for a home run by Royals outfielder Lane Thomas. He settled in from there, allowing just one more earned run—the solo shot by Bobby Witt Jr. in the fourth. Manaea relied primarily on a mix of his sinker, sweeper, and four-seam fastball, which topped out at 93 miles per hour. He threw 97 pitches, one fewer than the 109 he threw in his start against Atlanta.
Manaea’s performance came after a rocky stretch but offered a glimmer of optimism for the Mets as they head forward. The team’s depth in the rotation and the bullpen’ ability to absorb fewer innings from relievers could prove crucial as they chase continued improvement and stability in the second half of the season.