Mets' Carlos Mendoza explains why he pulled Brandon Sproat after four innings vs. Nationals

Mets fans are excited to see their three young arms pitch for their team, especially at Citi Field. But Brandon Sproat's outing was short on Friday as the right-hander lasted just four innings against the Washington Nationals.

It started great, with Sproat striking out three of the first six batters he faced, but defensive miscues — one of his own — resulted in a four-run third inning for Washington. 

Despite that one hiccup, Mets manager Carlos Mendoza was impressed with Sproat's start.

"The first two innings, he was pretty nasty, especially the way he was using the breaking ball," he explained. "The sweeper, the curveball, he used a lot of them for strikes to get chases, swing and misses, get back in counts, The sinker was playing up. The third inning, he lost it a little bit. It got away from him a little bit because he lost the strike zone there for a minute. One batter from getting out of that inning, then they hit some balls really hard there."

"First two innings were good. Leadoff walk, not a recipe for success," Sproat said of his outing. "Threw the ball away there. Frustrated with myself, make that play nine times out of 10…the second walk. Walks are never good."

Sproat allowed four runs on four hits and two walks while striking out five batters across his four innings, but at just 71 pitches, it's curious that Mendoza decided to pull Sproat. The second-year skipper explained that with the Mets fighting to hold on to a playoff spot, he didn't want to risk the game getting away from them. 

"I like what I saw. Even though he only gave us four, I was aggressive with him," Mendoza continued. "I thought he could have kept going, but where we’re at every game, I’m going to be aggressive when we need to. It was a positive outing for him."

Entering Friday's series opener, the Mets (79-74) were 2.0 games ahead of the Diamondbacks and Reds with nine games remaining. Every game matters at this time of the year, but Mendoza also pointed out that the Nationals hitters, especially the lefties, were starting to get to Sproat. He wanted to avoid them facing Sproat a third time.

"Watching those lefties in that third inning. After [James] Wood, [CJ] Abrams, all the lefties, there was some hard contact from them," Mendoza explained. "Wasn’t going to take chances there, especially after we got back. Wanted to give [Huascar Brazoban] or whoever a clean inning. That was the reason there."

But both Mendoza and Sproat were happy with how the fourth inning went. After the Mets cut their deficit to 4-2, Spraout got a groundout and struck out Paul DeJong and Jorge Alfaro to end his night.

"Had a good bounceback in the fourth. I was pleased with it, control what I can," Sproat said. "If I dwell on [the third inning], it’s not going to do anything for me. Told myself it’s the past, put it in the past, it is what it is, gotta move forward for this team. And that’s what I was able to do."

Sproat said there was no conversation with Mendoza about being taken out and respected his manager's decision. But Sproat, now after his third big league start, is experiencing in real time that in the majors, pitchers need to go pitch by pitch.

"That’s the beauty of this game, you’re never really out of it," Sproat said. "Runners first and second, no one out and you’re one pitch from a doubleplay. Gotta take it pitch by pitch and you’re only as good as your next one."

In three starts since his debut, Sproat has pitched to a 3.94 ERA and a 1.19 WHIP while striking out 15 batters across 16.0 innings.