Mets bullpen taking advantage of 'great opportunity' after trade deadline: 'We want to go out there and compete'

Since overhauling the roster at the trade deadline on Aug. 3, the Mets have gone 7-3 in their last 10 games. And surprisingly, the rebuilt bullpen has been a catalyst during this recent stretch of success. New York's relievers stepped up again during Friday's 4-1 win over the Washington Nationals, holding the MLB's highest-scoring offense to just two hits over the final 4.2 innings of the game. After starter Robert Stock's day was done in the fifth inning, Nate Lavender, Jonathan Pintaro, Daniel Duarte, and Kodai Senga kept the Nats' off of the scoreboard. After the win, interim manager Andy Green said Stock had a "really good" bounce-back outing and then highlighted the bullpen's impressive performances, including Lavender for getting two big outs and Pintaro's journey up to this moment.  "I think excited for all of them," Green said. "What Nate has done in a short time here is enter dicey situation after dicey situation and gotten big outs for us. he comes in, it's harder than it looks, too, because you have an elite base-stealer at second base. He was able to control that and get two quick outs for us. Lot of credit to him. Early on in the big league career he keeps a low-pulse rate and goes out there and does what he does. "And then Pinto gives us two huge innings. When you think about his journey from indy ball and getting picked up last year. Our scouts doing a nice job finding him, him coming through our development system. And now he's won a baseball game in the big leagues, that's pretty impressive. It's pretty impressive the scouting group that they found the guy in indy ball, we got a couple of them in the bullpen that didn't come the conventional route, but they came because our scouts are grinding. Pinto deserves a lot of credit for what he's done. I think Duarte's just been sensational." Pintaro, who was pitching in just his ninth career game, earned his first win after throwing two scoreless innings of relief with two strikeouts. The 28-year-old spoke on what the accomplishment felt like and how he and the other relievers are taking advantage of the new opportunities in the bullpen. "It's amazing. This is everything every baseball player ever dreams of," Pintaro said. "Just being able to go out there and compete and give everything I have for my teammates, it's amazing." He added: "Pretty much all we want to do is we want to go out there and compete. Just do everything we can to show the world that we deserve this chance and that we have a great opportunity here to compete and help our teammates do everything they can to get the wins." And it's not just journeyman players like Pintaro who are taking advantage of the new opportunities, as Senga has been solid in a high-leverage role and is 2-for-2 on save opportunities. Green said he won't always pitch in the ninth going forward, but is happy with what he's seen from the former starter. "He'll continue to get those opportunities," Green said. "I do think there will be times we flip it and pitch him in the eighth inning because he matches up really well at the right point in time. But he's going to continue to get the high-leverage opportunities. Like I just said, he's really controlled his pulse-rate and he's throwing plus-stuff out there." Senga even told reporters that he's been able to adjust quickly to the new role and feels more prepared taking the mound when he knows the specific situation. "It's certainly easier to prepare knowing that you're going later in the game, easier to prepare, easier to get ready and warm-up," Senga said via an interpreter.  He, Pintaro, and the rest of the Mets bullpen will now look to keep it going as they continue their home series against the Nats this weekend and throughout the final stretch of the regular season.