Mets' Game 6 challenge after most recent pitching feat against Dodgers: Do it again

LOS ANGELES — Out of nowhere, amid his usual borderline dominance, Sean Manaea crashed.

He reached the sixth inning of Game 2 of the National League Championship Series last week and “hit a wall,” as he phrased it. Suddenly tired, Manaea began missing the strike zone in ways he usually doesn’t, walked a couple of batters and gave up a hard hit. Just like that, his day was done, earlier than the Mets wanted.

He attributed it to his large body of work on the year, a career-best 35 starts and personal-high 198 2⁄3 innings, regular season and postseason combined. Simply put, he is worn down, which is among the factors with which the Mets must contend in Game 6 against the Dodgers on Sunday night, when Manaea will take the mound again.

“A lot of innings so far, a lot of pitches. And really the body is just a little tired,” Manaea said Saturday. “I just couldn’t really get that mind/body connection to make the adjustment. So for me, that’s kind of what ‘the wall’ meant. So yeah, I’m just trying to push through that.”

Manaea is the biggest piece in a pitching puzzle that could be difficult to put together. After they pulled off a heck of a pitching feat on Friday night — using only two relievers, Ryne Stanek and Edwin Diaz, for the second half of a game against one of the most potent lineups in baseball — the Mets’ next challenge is obvious: Do it again on Sunday and then one more time after that.

If they pull it off and win two games in Los Angeles, they’ll go to the World Series. If not, their season will end.

An already shorthanded bullpen figures to be thin again in Game 6, in part because the Mets have only so many relievers they trust in big spots.

“We’ll watch [Manaea] closely and we’ll be ready and adjust if we need to,” manager Carlos Mendoza said. “But pretty comfortable giving him the ball [Sunday] and we’ll go from there.”

Mendoza added of the relievers: “There’s going to be guys that are going to be in the game and we’re going to ask them to get three outs in high-leverage situations. And high leverage in the playoffs, especially when you’re facing an elimination game, it could be in the third inning. You’re not going to be relying on just two guys. We ask a lot of them.”

Here’s a loose sketch of the Mets’ bullpen situation:

Edwin Diaz: Should be available. He has pitched once in the past five days, a two-inning, 23-pitch, relatively-low-stress outing to finish off the Game 5 blowout of the Dodgers.

Ryne Stanek: Might be available. After pushing himself for seven outs across three innings, he ideally would have more than just Saturday off. But the Mets are not playing under ideal circumstances. They might not have a choice but to ask him for an inning.

Phil Maton: Should be available for multiple innings. He had back-to-back days off after tossing 1 1⁄3 frames on Thursday, his only outing in a span of five days.

Reed Garrett: Might be available. He pitched in parts of multiple innings — allowing five runs total — twice in three days. Then he had one day off. The Mets have been pushing him and the results have reflected that. But like Stanek, they might need him.

Jose Butto: Should be available. He had consecutive days off after a two-inning appearance Thursday, so he should be an option again. The Mets’ trust in him of late is such that he is not a preferred choice in innings that matter — which in the Mets’ state is all of them.

Tylor Megill/Danny Young: Very likely unavailable after long relief appearances in New York.

The Mets’ wild card is Kodai Senga. After booting him to the bullpen following his short and ineffective start in Game 1, the Mets are comfortable using Senga under “any circumstances,” Mendoza said.

That seems unlikely, given that they don’t trust him to start a game and showed no inclination to use him in a blowout Game 5, but Senga is ready when the Mets want him.

“I was just told that they would let me know a little bit earlier than other guys in the bullpen,” Senga said through an interpreter in a nod to his starter’s routine. “Other than that, I’m available when they need me . . . If I was to go out there again, I don’t think it would look anything similar to Game 1.”

Mendoza said: “I wouldn’t hesitate giving him the ball in the third, in the fourth, in the sixth, in the seventh. It depends — he might be getting the last three innings of the game. He’s on the active roster. There’s a reason why. He’s a good pitcher. And like I said, people will step up. Senga is one of them.”

The Mets will in part figure it out as they go. David Peterson, who started Game 5, said he is preparing to pitch in relief in Game 7.

“We were just laughing about it outside,” Peterson said of his catch session with the pitchers. “We don’t know what roles are in the bullpen right now. Just win.”

By Tim Healey

timothy.healey@newsday.com@timbhealey

Tim Healey is the Mets beat writer for Newsday. Born on Long Island and raised in Connecticut, Tim has previously worked for the South Florida Sun Sentinel, the Boston Globe and MLB.com. He is also the author of “Hometown Hardball,” a book about minor league baseball in the northeast.