There’s not a ton of star power in the Mets starting rotation, especially with two of the main cogs on the IL.
But that hasn’t prevented the rest of the group from putting up some impressive numbers.
With Griffin Canning’s latest strong outing on Tuesday, the rotation extended its homer-less streak to 11 games, matching the longest stretch in over a decade, in the Mets’ 5-1 win over Philadelphia at Citi Field.
The last time a Mets rotation went as long without allowing a homer was in 2014, which would be noteworthy, even if they weren’t without Sean Manaea and Frankie Montas, both of whom were expected to be significant parts of the staff and are still recovering from injuries suffered during spring training.
The lack of homers is just a part of what this rotation has done, even after it entered the season with question marks like reliever-turned-starter Clay Holmes, as well as reclamation project Canning, who held the Phillies to one run in five innings at Citi Field on Tuesday.
There’s also Tylor Megill, who has shown flashes of quality over the years, but has had a hard time sustaining it.
The group, led by Kodai Senga and David Peterson, entered Tuesday leading the majors in an array of categories, including ERA (2.31), fWAR (3.1), as well as homers allowed per nine innings (0.38).
They also ranked second to the Phillies in strikeouts per nine innings (10.15).
“We’ve done a good job as a group,’’ Peterson said before Tuesday’s win.
The lefty allowed a pair of homers in his first start of the season at Miami, but none over his last three outings.
Senga has given up just one home run all year, while Holmes and Megill haven’t been taken deep in any of their five starts apiece.
Canning allowed 1.5 homers per nine innings in his career before this season and entered Tuesday at 0.9 so far in 2025, part of the right-hander’s overall improvement since arriving in Queens after five seasons with the Angels.
Carlos Mendoza said he was aware his rotation — and entire staff — is performing well, but didn’t analyze the numbers too closely, leaving that to pitching coach Jeremy Hefner.
Still, the manager did acknowledge, “I know we’re doing pretty good. I don’t want to get into the details of all of it. [Hefner] is paying attention to what they need to be doing, but it comes down to sticking to our strengths, executing pitches [and] executing game plans.”
Though Mendoza and the Mets are enjoying the fruits of the homer-less stretch, he knows it won’t last forever.
“We’re going to give up homers,’’ Mendoza said. “That’s going to happen. We’re going to have games that are hard for us. In the meantime, it’s not just pitching. It’s catching and we’re playing good defense. There’s a lot to like. But, me, I try not to look at numbers.”
If he did, Mendoza would no doubt be impressed.
A year ago, the Mets rotation — which got standout performances from Manaea, who hasn’t pitched yet this season, and Luis Severino, now with the A’s — finished fifth in the majors in home run rate.
“We don’t want to lose anybody [to injury],’’ Peterson said. “We know what Sean and Montas can do when they’re healthy and we want them back whenever they can be here. But we have guys that have been around and Clay and [Canning,] who have all come in and pitched well.”
Not surprisingly, of those 11 games, the Mets have won eight.
