Minor car accident almost spoils Lucchesi's final '23 start

NEW YORK -- Among the most notable aspects of Joey Lucchesi's final outing was the fact that he nearly didn’t make it.

Lucchesi was in a minor accident on Tuesday night, when -- as the left-hander described it -- another vehicle collided with his Uber while fleeing from the police on Roosevelt Avenue in Queens. Sitting on the right side of the Uber as he commuted home from Citi Field, Lucchesi watched the car smash into the left, unoccupied side. The car hit multiple other vehicles, Lucchesi said, before officers managed to arrest its driver.

As for Lucchesi, he escaped with a bit of back soreness, but not enough to prevent him from making his final start of the season. The left-hander wound up firing six-plus strong innings in an 11-2 win over the Marlins in Game 1 of a doubleheader at Citi Field on Wednesday afternoon.

“I didn’t want to miss my last start,” Lucchesi said.

After the accident, Lucchesi and his family caught a ride with teammate Tylor Megill, who had been driving nearby and saw the scene unfold.

“It was pretty wild,” Lucchesi said. “A lot of adrenaline out of nowhere.”

The accident provided an unexpected leadup to what became another stellar start for Lucchesi. Making his ninth outing of the year and third since a late-season recall to the Majors, Lucchesi retired seven of the first eight batters he faced en route to six scoreless innings. He then opened the seventh by allowing consecutive doubles, resulting in two earned runs on his line.

Overall, Lucchesi finished his season with a 4-0 record and 2.89 ERA. He fared far better in the Majors than the Minors -- a quirk he attributes to his struggles adapting to the Automated Ball-Strike system at Triple-A.

Lucchesi’s performance should be enough for him to remain part of the organization’s plans in the future. Arbitration-eligible for the final time, Lucchesi is likely due a small raise over the $1.15 million he made this season. The Mets figure to consider that a reasonable price for a piece of rotation depth.

“It’s been an up-and-down year for me,” Lucchesi said. “Coming back from Tommy John, I felt like I had something to prove to the world, to myself. I wanted to show people I still belong here, and I feel like I made that case.”