Mets’ Sean Manaea impresses in season debut

Sean Manaea struck out seven in his first outing of the season for the Mets.

Oct 14, 2024; Los Angeles, California, USA; New York Mets pitcher Sean Manaea (59) reacts in the second inning against the Los Angeles Dodgers during game two of the NLCS for the 2024 MLB Playoffs at Dodger Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Jayne Kamin-Oncea-Imagn Images | Jayne Kamin-Oncea-Imagn Images

Starting pitcher Sean Manaea did not miss a beat during his first outing of the season for the New York Mets.

Despite taking the hard-luck loss on Sunday against the Kansas City Royals, Manaea gave the Mets everything they could have hoped for in his season debut. After taking over in place of Clay Holmes, who worked the first five innings for New York, Manaea came in and dominated.

The lefty hurler worked the final 3.1 innings for the Amazins', striking out seven, including at one point five in a row on five hits. The only blemish on the 33-year-old's line was giving up a walk-off RBI single to Nick Loftin that won the game for Kansas City, 3-2. Manaea in total threw 65 pitches, 44 of them for strikes.

Sean Manaea ends up with the loss, but he put forth a strong effort in his first outing of 2025 pic.twitter.com/c6Zll4ub64

— SNY Mets (@SNY_Mets) July 13, 2025

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Manaea's 2025 debut was much later in the season than expected, as he started the regular season on the 60-day injured list with a right oblique strain suffered during spring training. The 33-year-old had his return further delayed when a loose body was discovered in his left elbow during his rehab assignment on June 24, which shut him down from throwing for a couple of days.

"It was really good to be back," Manaea said after his first outing of the season. "Fastball, slider felt really good, threw only one changeup to Bobby [Witt Jr.]...everything felt really good."

"It was really good to be back"

Sean Manaea after his first outing of 2025: pic.twitter.com/HdLHWDtKbT

— SNY (@SNYtv) July 13, 2025

New York is hoping that this outing for Manaea will be a sign of things to come during the second half of the regular season, especially after he emerged as the team's ace last season. In 32 starts during the 2024 campaign, Manaea went 12–6 with a 3.47 ERA and 187 strikeouts in a career-high 181.2 innings. The veteran's career year resulted in the Mets re-signing him to a three-year, $75 million deal during the offseason.

With Manaea back, the Mets will finally have a somewhat stable pitching rotation with the likes of the aforementioned Holmes, Kodai Senga, David Peterson, and Frankie Montas expected to be the starting five during the second half of the season.