New York Post, Monday, August 19, 2019nypost.com41FAST TRACK: Deivi Garcia has rocketed
through the Yankees’ system and could help
the Bombers down the stretch if the team
decides to put him in the bullpen. AP
ZACK ATTACKED: The
Mets beat the Royals 11-5,
despite the four runs Zack
Wheeler surrendered in five
innings. APBy MIKE PUMAKANSAS CITY, Mo. — Zack
Wheeler is ready to pile on
some extra homework.
After a second straight sub-
par performance Sunday, the
Mets right-hander said he
probably needs a video ses-
sion with pitching startegist
Jeremy Accardo to figure out
what’s causing his struggles.
“I felt off mechanically, but
that was the past two starts,”
Wheeler said after the Mets
beat the Royals 11-5. “I think
we’ll try to figure something
out, just watch some video and
see if I can notice anything and
just work off of that.”
Wheeler was removed after
five innings in which he al-
lowed four runs, one un-earned, on four hits and one
walk. In his previous outing,
against the Braves, he surren-
dered five earned runs on 12
hits over five innings.
In his first two starts after
the July 31 trade deadline,
Wheeler combined to pitch 15
straight scoreless innings
against the White Sox and
Marlins.
Manager Mickey Callaway
indicated Wheeler might have
been tired in the middle in-
nings, but the pitcher said that
wasn’t so.
“Not at all,” Wheeler said. “I
think I was fine, good to go, but
a couple of bloopers dropped
in and then I messed up a play
at first that I should have made
and it kind of took off from
there and I couldn’t stop it, butluckily [Jeurys] Familia came
in and stopped the bleeding
and we were able to add some
runs and pull out the win.”
Wheeler’s throwing error on
Nick Dini’s bunt in the fifth in-
ning loaded the bases with no-
body out. The Royals scored
three runs in the inning to take
a 4-3 lead.
The Royals scored a run in
the fourth against Wheeler af-
ter Hunter Dozier had doubled
and advanced to third on a
wild pitch.
“[Wheeler] battled,” Calla-
way said. “It’s something you
just have to go out there and
battle and I thought he battled
hard and threw 92 pitches
through five innings and it was
time to get him out and Familia
came in and picked him up.”Davis’ calf gives Mets pause
By MIKE PUMAKANSAS CITY, Mo. —
J.D. Davis’ said his right calf
wasn’t bothering him, but his
motions on the bases after deliv-
ering a pinch-hit, game-tying
single for the Mets in the sev-
enth inning Sunday triggered an
alarm.
“We were thinking of leaving
him in left field and letting him
play out there. He says he feels
great,” manager Mickey Calla-
way said after the Mets beat the
Royals 11-5. “Then I watched him
run first-to-third and said it’s not
worth the risk.”
Davis left Friday’s game for a
pinch runner because of dis-
comfort with the calf. He was
utilized for pinch-hitting dutythe last two games.
“They just told me if I got on
base to take it easy, not to really
provoke it,” Davis said. “But I
didn’t feel it and that was a good
sign for me. It’s a good sign go-
ing forward.”
Davis indicated he would ex-
pect to play left field Tuesday.
“I was contemplating playing
[Sunday],” he said. “But they just
tried to give me an extra day just
to be ready for it.”➤Michael Conforto’s 452-foot
homer was the second-longest
of his career, according to Stat-
cast. Conforto’s longest came
against Jon Lester at WrigleyField last Aug. 27, when he
launched a 472-foot blast.
Though Jeff McNeil is on the
injured list and Davis was lim-
ited to pinch hitting in the last
two games, Conforto indicated
he hasn’t put extra pressure on
himself to carry the lineup.
“Our lineup, even without
those guys, we still have Rosie
[Amed Rosario] who is very
hot right now,” Conforto said.
“Wilson [Ramos] is hot, [Juan]
Lagares is hot. Guys are picking
up the slack left and right.”➤Edwin Diaz pitched a per-
fect ninth with two strikeouts,
albeit with a six-run lead. But
Callaway said it was a step in the
right direction for the struggling
reliever.METS NOTES