It was no great secret that the Mets needed starting pitchers for the beginning of their pivotal five-game series against the Atlanta Braves. That was well known from late last week, with two giant question marks slated for Monday and Tuesday staring them straight in the face. Monday’s doubleheader presented the opportunity to go with a bullpen game, but that still left a gaping hole on the calendar for Tuesday. The front office had time leading up to those games to formulate a plan to address that need. They even had a gift-wrapped option, with the Pittsburgh Pirates openly begging teams to take left-hander Tyler Anderson—no ace by any means, but still a more suitable alternative to the internal options—off their hands before his scheduled Tuesday start.
The Mets punted a game against a division rival, resulting in a blow out loss to the Braves
