How Justin Wilson went from forgotten to Mets savior

For the better part of 10 weeks, the Mets were without an essential bullpen piece. Aside from one appearance, they couldn’t call on the player they imagined would be essential to their relief corps.

Between April 19 and July 2, Justin Wilson made one appearance. A sore left elbow kept him sidelined. In hindsight, however, that time away may be key to the Mets’ playoff hopes.

Without it, Wilson may not have as much left in the tank as he seems to have now as September nears and the Mets battle for a wild-card berth.

“That could definitely help. If the innings were up and he pitched healthily all year, and September has kind of taken its toll on somebody, it can definitely make them a little less effective,” manager Mickey Callaway said. “He’s had some time off and he looks better than I’ve ever seen him at this point.”

Entering Wednesday night’s game against the Indians at Citi Field, Wilson had allowed just two earned runs over 16 innings spanning 20 appearances since coming off the injured list in early July. He’s become an integral part of the improved bullpen, a reliable arm for a unit that was lacking such pitchers.

Take Tuesday’s victory over the Indians, for instance. Wilson got the two biggest outs of the game, inheriting a difficult situation from Steven Matz. Cleveland had the tying runs on base for its best player, All-Star shortstop Francisco Lindor. Wilson struck him out and also fanned Oscar Mercado. The Mets would soon break the game open, clearing the way to their third consecutive victory. Wilson went to his cut fastball for both strikeouts, the pitching diving into the dirt.

“Specifically, to those two hitters, that’s what you have to do. You have to bury fastballs, run them in, cut them in, and kind of pound those guys inside,” Callaway said. “Going into it, we were like Wilson will be a great matchup [for us].

“The thing that makes [that pitch] so good for him [is] he’s got a lively fastball. You have to make a decision pretty early. That cutter looks a lot like his fastball.”

It’s been a strange year for the 32-year-old Wilson. He’s spent a large portion of the season on the IL. He’s allowing a lot of base runners — 1.34 per inning — and barely striking out more than one hitter an inning, low for him. But his ERA is low, at 2.49, a product of him limiting the opposition to a .250/.357/.333 slash line and .690 OPS with runners in scoring position.

In past years, a heavy workload has worn down Wilson by September. He had a 7.50 ERA the final month of last season when he was with the Cubs and an 8.10 ERA in September the season before. But he didn’t miss a large chunk of those seasons like he has this year.

Now he’s feeling stronger, helping the Mets — along with newcomer Brad Brach, Luis Avilan, Seth Lugo and Jeurys Familia — give the unit some stability.

“I think it’s just consistency overall for everybody. Getting myself, Avi, and Familia all back right before the All-Star break was a little help there,” he said. “It just takes pressure off guys. We just got to keep rolling. We’re playing good baseball and we want to keep that up.”

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