CLEVELAND Stuck in the basement of the NL East and on the heels of trading away five more major league players at the deadline, the Mets entered Cleveland with 49 games left in the 2026 season in need of some inspiration.Nate Lavender's long-awaited debut on Thursday against the Guardians served to alleviate some of the dread.The 26-year-old right-hander entered out of the bullpen in the seventh inning with the tying run at the plate and did not waver, freezing Travis Bazzana on a 2-2 fastball to get out of the jam and following it up with three more outs, including an inning-ending double play in the eighth. "Unbelievable. Unbelievable," Lavender said of his debut. "It's been a long journey. Drafted here in '21 in the system, dealt with some injuries and stuff. All that doesn't matter. It's just part of the journey, and it feels absolutely unbelievable."Lavender shut the door in the biggest spot of the game to help the Mets push past the Guardians, 6-2, in front of 24,636 fans at Progressive Field.With the Mets trading the majority of their high-leverage bullpen unit in the last week, with A.J. Minter, Brooks Raley, Huascar Brazoban and Luke Weaver now in different locales, there is an abundance of opportunities for upstart pitchers to prove they belong in a big league bullpen.Nate Lavender's journey to the big leaguesLavender was on the precipice of making his big league debut in 2024 with a strong open to spring training but had to undergo an internal brace procedure after suffering ligament damage in his elbow five games into the Triple-A season. On his way back, he needed to have bone spur surgery a season ago. While that journey might not have matter as his family and friends were cheering him at Progressive Field on Tuesday, his teammates understood that moment and it galvanized the group in the process."I thought the dugout was as alive in that Nate Lavender punchout as it's been in some time," Mets interim manager Andy Green said. "I think that really just hopefully is a catalyst for us to bring some energy with thse new guys we got here. We saw a bunch of guys in different roles. They're pitching in tough situations. They did a great job, so I think everybody took some juice from that.'There won't be any hiding for the newest members of the Mets bullpen. Green made sure to tell Lavender quickly that he was going back out for the eighth inning to ensure he stayed dialed in. And it worked for a first 1 scoreless innings for the lefty."I think it stems back to just routine and how many times have I grabbed a ball, warmed up, gone through the same steps I do when I warm up and go in a game. I think I just leaned on that. The situation shouldn't matter. It's inning one, inning nine, inning 10, 11, 12. It's just part of the job description."Kodai Senga adjusting to new bullpen roleAmid a rough season for Kodai Senga, the Mets want to see him hone in on finding success in high-leverage innings leaning on his high velocity and his diabolical forkball.Senga took the ball in the ninth inning on Tuesday night and protected the four-run lead. He opened with a groundout and worked around a one-out walk with back-to-back fly balls to left field. Senga threw 11 of the 12 hardest pitches of the night, topping out at 98.8 mph."He has pitched in some of the biggest games in the world, been a premier guy in Japan for a long time and just think that he really has the capacity to fill up the strike zone when he wants to and really cute loose," Green said. "He's got plus velo and so we kind of just trusted the heartbeat today and the fact that he's been in some big situations."Senga acknowledged that he would like to remain a starter but understands his results, which included an 8.66 ERA entering Tuesday, might not merit a spot in the rotation. "Whatever role is given to me, I'm going to throw in that role, regardless of what I say. If I say I want to be a starter, the team could tell me just look at your stats. I don't have anything to say back to him."This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: Mets' new-look bullpen takes first step with Nate Lavender, Kodai Senga in big spots