Reliever Tigers just dumped suffers unfathomably brutal debut with Mets

The Tigers made two small cash trades earlier this week after pitchers Woo-Suk Go and Matt Seelinger exercised their upward mobility clauses; Go to the Twins and Seelinger to the Mets. The clause dictates that the players be added to the receiving team's roster, so both were set to earn their major league debuts with their new teams.

Go has yet to get on the mound for Minnesota, but the Mets put Seelinger to work immediately on Tuesday night. It was supposed to be a feel-good story for Seelinger and New York, who have had very little reason to feel good this year. He's a Long Island native, from a town just over half an hour away from Citi Field. He told reporters before the game that 20 friends and family had gotten tickets to see him make his debut after eight years in the minors.

And then the worst possible thing happened. The Mets were the Mets.

They went up 3-0 in the first inning after a carnival of errors for the visiting Royals that eventually gave Carson Benge his first Little League homer. Kansas City answered and things went back and forth for a few innings before the Mets put up a four-spot in the fourth to pull away, 9-4.

They ended up losing the game 16-12. Seelinger, in his major league debut for his hometown team, in front of friends and family, was responsible for seven earned runs.

Former Tigers minor league pitcher Matt Seelinger had the worst possible MLB debut with Mets

We can't even find it within ourselves to point and laugh at the Mets for this (even though losing that game was such a Mets thing to do that one can hardly believe it). It's hard to feel anything but deeply sad that's how Seelinger's MLB debut shook out.

The Royals had tied the game going into the seventh, when the Mets called Seelinger out of the bullpen. He gave up a leadoff walk, then a go-ahead double to Salvador Perez. He got his first major league strikeout (yay!), then gave up a two-run homer. And then a walk. And then another walk. And then a single. And then an RBI walk. And then an RBI groundout. And then a two-run double. And then he finally got out of the inning. 16-9, Royals.

He pitched a scoreless eighth, but the damage was done. Way, way done.

Admirably, he still spoke to media after the game. "It obviously wasn't the best way that I wanted to start my major league career," he said. "But I was very proud to recollect myself in the dugout and get my bearings and get out there and compete, put up a zero in that inning and help the team out."

We hoped the Mets give the guy at least one more chance at some redemption, because ... come on, guys, what do you have to lose? Instead, they DFA'ed Seelinger on Wednesday afternoon. Brutal.

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