Sean Manaea finally gives Mets the length they…
Six hundred and thirty-nine days.
That’s how long it had been since Sean Manaea last stayed in a recreation for seven innings.
He’s gone six innings once and 5 a number of instances since then, but hadn’t reached the seventh-inning stretch since Oct. 8, 2024, in an NLDS win over the Phillies.
That modified Thursday.
Despite giving up a leadoff home run, Manaea went a season-high seven innings in the Mets’ 7-3 win over the Royals, permitting three runs (two earned), strolling just one and placing out six.
“He just wanted to be a horse out there,” Mets supervisor Andy Green said. “Filled up the strike zone. Anybody that gives up a homer on the first pitch and just goes back in there all day, you’re keen on that.
“I thought he was fantastic. It was huge for us. We’ve run through a ton of bullpen pieces to get seven strong; couldn’t ask for anything more.”
Poor length out of starters has been an Achilles’ heel for the Mets all season, and that hasn’t modified just lately.
New York Mets pitcher Sean Manaea (59) reacts on the mound in the seventh inning against the Kansas City Royals at Citi Field, Thursday, July 9, 2026, in Queens, NY. Corey Sipkin for the NY POST
Christian Scott went just 4 innings against the Braves on July 3. Freddy Peralta went just 4 ²/₃ three days later in Atlanta. Even in the Mets win over the Royals on Wednesday, Scott went just 5.
Manaea didn’t just break that pattern. He made life 10 instances simpler for the bullpen. Between Huascar Brazobán and Devin Williams, Mets relievers tossed two scoreless innings to seal the win.
“We need length out of the rotation,” Green said. “Outings like that set you up to win tomorrow’s baseball recreation, and that’s what we’ve been lacking to some degree: having a number of outings like those in a week.
New York Mets pitcher Sean Manaea throws during the second inning of a baseball recreation against the Kansas City Royals, Thursday, July 9, 2026, in New York. AP Photo/Seth Wenig
“That’s huge for us going into tomorrow, to be able to rest the vast majority of our pen arms.”
The 34-year-old allowed a homer to Lane Thomas on the recreation’s first pitch, but settled in immediately after. Manaea retired the aspect in the second and third innings while inducing a Tyler Tolbert groundout — a rarity after he tied the MLB report Tuesday with 12 consecutive hits.
Manaea gave up a solo shot to Bobby Witt Jr. in the fourth but bounced back again by retiring the next 5 batters.
The lefty then maneuvered his approach out of hassle in the seventh — a single, error, double and stroll yielding just a single Royals run to keep the Mets’ lead intact, 6-3.
“It’s the culmination of a lot of hard work and people believing in me, me believing in myself,” Manaea said. “The whole squad coming together; it feels really cool to do something like that again.”
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