Mets pitcher earns first win after three years of losing, and it saves the season
NEW YORK – For Paul Sewald, the Mets’ season-saving win Tuesday night over the Marlins meant just a little bit more to him than any other Met.
Sewald, in his third year in the majors, finally owns a win — ending his NL record 14-game losing streak dating to his debut in 2017.
“Just a relief. That was a terrible stretch of losses,” Sewald said after the Mets’ 5-4 win in 11 innings. “Just the fact that now I don’t have to think about it, talk about it, care about, that’s the most important thing.”
Sewald entered Tuesday’s game having failed to win a game spanning 118 career outings, a stretch that mostly stems from bad luck.
While relievers don’t have much control over their win-loss record, one would think that Sewald would have lucked his way into one by now. Plenty of relievers yield multiple runs while blowing a save and still manage to grab a win. There are even those who throw one pitch, and get the W next to their name.
But not Sewald. He had an 0-14 career record.
“It’s not on my mind when I go out there, I never thought about it when I went to the mound with a tie game or anything like that,” said Sewald, a 2012 10th-round pick. “Every time you see your name in the loss column and doesn’t have any wins in that other column, it’s a little deflating. People ask me, it’s like, you see relievers get wins by fluke all the time, they can pitch poorly and can get a win.”
Sewald entered a tie game in the 11th inning Tuesday knowing that if the Marlins won, the Mets’ season would be over. New York (82-75) has a tragic number of 1, and the Brewers had already played, leaving it in the Mets’ hands as to whether they would still be alive Wednesday when they play their 158th game.
The righty did not allow a run, and the Mets ultimately loaded the bases with no outs in the bottom of the inning.
“I felt that was best chance I ever got,” Sewald said.
When Brandon Nimmo walked to force in the winning run, the Mets were still alive, and Sewald could finally stop hearing about his winless streak.
Only Terry Felton — who pitched from 1979-1982 for the Twins and went 0-16, never getting a win in his career — had a longer losing streak.
“It’s a meaningless stat for a reliever,” Sewald said, “but good to at least have one.”
More from Yahoo Sports:
