Carlos Carrasco fans 11 as Mets rout Pirates to end skid

Aside from the obvious, the game on the field, a 7-1 Mets win over the Pirates, there were at least a pair of ongoing competitions happening at Citi Field on Thursday night. Neither reached a conclusion but both had noteworthy, if incremental, developments.

The external competition was huge: the race for the NL East. In snapping a three-game losing streak, the Mets doubled their lead over second-place Atlanta, which had the day off, to a whopping one game. Expect the daily standings wiggling to continue for most of the next three weeks.

But the internal competition was subtle: the jockeying for position in the postseason rotation. Seed, schedule and opponent are to be decided, but the Mets (90-55) are a virtual lock to make the playoffs for the first time in six seasons. Among the items on their regular-season to-do list is figuring out postseason roles for those near the bottom of the active roster depth chart.

Buck Showalter has wondered, too, he said before the game, admitting to mulling how the rotation specifically might play out in late September and early October but noting that he stops himself because so much can change between now and then. 

“We all do,” he said. “At the end of the day, we’re fans, too. We like to think about what might be and could be.”

Carlos Carrasco, who struck out a season-high 11 and held the Pirates to one run over six innings, is squarely in that discussion as a back-end starter. But he said his job come October has not crossed his mind. 

"That’s a good question, but I just want to finish the season strong,” he said. “I can’t put that in my head.”

Most of the Mets’ starter sityation is straightforward enough. The aces, Max Scherzer and Jacob deGrom, will be at the top (though the order in which they pitch may turn into a fun and perhaps irrelevant subplot). Chris Bassitt, his most recent start notwithstanding, looks like the easy choice for third.

At No. 4, it starts to get tricky. Aside from a two-start hiccup — when he got hurt last month and his first game back this month — Carrasco (15-6) has been sturdy since the start of July. He has a 2.12 ERA in 11 starts since then.

Taijuan Walker, who was excellent in Miami last weekend and gets a turn against Pittsburgh on Friday, has struggled in the second half, posting a 5.44 ERA.

Each is lined up for three more starts before the playoffs.

Armed with a sharper-than-normal split-changeup, Carrasco made the most of facing the Pirates (55-89), effective the whole outing even if he was inefficient for most of it. He needed 85 pitches to get through four innings but lasted two more on just 19.

“I said, ‘OK, three innings, 60 pitches — I cannot do this to the bullpen and the team. I need to go a little deeper,’” Carrasco said. “I was able to go six innings and everything is fine.”

Mets hitters, meanwhile, thrashed Pirates righthander JT Brubaker for five runs in three innings. He exited because of right lat discomfort.

Their greatest source of offense was the DH spot. Daniel Vogelbach went 2-for-2 with three RBIs. When Showalter went to Mark Vientos as a pinch hitter — in the fourth inning — against lefty reliever Eric Stout, he came through with a run-scoring single through the right side of the infield for his first major-league hit.

The crowd congratulated him with a standing ovation.

“I always say the first one is the hardest one, so I can take a deep breath now and just play baseball,” Vientos said, adding of the applause: “I’m going to be honest with you, I probably didn’t hear anything. I was super locked in in trying to get that first one out of the way.”

Showalter said: “You hope it’ll be the first of a lot. That’ll be up to him.”

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.