QUEENS, NY —For all the talk of his downfall during the first three months of the 2026 season, Sean Manaea is starting to look like a version of himself from two years ago.
The veteran southpaw put together yet another strong start in a 3-2 win in the first game of Wednesday’s doubleheader against the Atlanta Braves at Citi Field, going six innings while allowing two runs on five hits with four strikeouts and two walks.
It was the third time in his last four outings that he went at least six while allowing two or fewer earned runs. Since returning to the rotation on June 13, after a spring in which he was used as a reliever because the velocity on his fastball was slow to arrive, Manaea has a respectable 3.88 ERA over nine starts.
Manaea cites a mechanical adjustment that has helped him get back to a serviceable level, along with the “confidence to just attack.”
“There’s been a lot of hard work that I’ve put in this whole year,” Manaea said. “I feel good with where I’m at mechanically and pitch-wise, and all that stuff. I finally feel really, really good… I’m very proud of where I’m at.”
The return of his velocity has proven to be an immense help. After sitting in the high-80s throughout the first half, his fastball regularly sat between 91 and 94 mph on Wednesday.
“It’s huge,” Manaea said. “These games are a lot easier when I’m throwing 93, 94 than it is at 89 to 91. It makes a huge difference.”
It was a slow transition back to this form. As a reliever, he had a 6.85 ERA on May 6, then posted a 3.05 ERA in his next six appearances, mostly as a piggybacking arm after an opener.
He has helped keep a shorthanded rotation afloat, which was blown up this season due to the unreliability of David Peterson, now of the Chicago Cubs, and Kodai Senga. Clay Holmes’ broken leg in May certainly did not help things, either.
Manaea got through the first five innings unscathed, working around three hits and a pair of walks to keep the high-powered Braves off the board. The NL East leaders got him in the sixth when, after a Drake Baldwin walk, Matt Olson launched his 28th home run of the season to tie the game. But Manaea rebounded to set the next three men he faced in order, which proved to be the final of his afternoon.
Carson Benge’s RBI double in the seventh proved to be the difference, clinching the Mets’ third-straight win and a series victory over Atlanta.
“I would say we are kind of like letting go,” Manaea said. “I think everyone knows where we’re at, where we stand. At the end of the day, there’s nothing us players can do about it. I guess we’re seeing the free-and-easy level of baseball we want to play. The trade deadline is going to come and go. Maybe some things happen, maybe they don’t. But at the end of the day, we can’t worry about that, and we have to go out there and play.”
There is still a chance that Manaea is one of those players dealt away by Major League Baseball’s Aug. 3 trade deadline, especially with the way he pitched on Wednesday and against the two-time defending-champion Dodgers on July 24, in which he went six innings, allowed just one run.
“As far as I’m concerned, I’m a Met,” Manaea said. “I’m happy to be here. It’s just nothing I can do about it, so I’m not worried about it.”
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