Players of the Week: Davis Returns With a Bang, Megill Shines

Coming off the All-Star break, the Mets had one of their more frustrating weekends of the season.

Friday night, the Mets’ offense was yet again nonexistent, mustering just three hits against Chad Kuhl and the Pirates bullpen.

Saturday night was even more frustrating for the Mets. After rookie Tylor Megill put together another solid outing, the bullpen struggled to hold the lead. Seth Lugo pitched the eighth, and he allowed five runs, including a three run bomb off the bat of Wilmer Difo.

After Brandon Nimmo homered to spot Edwin Diaz another insurance run, he struggled as well. Diaz loaded the bases and almost worked out of trouble, but Jacob Stallings launched a walk-off grand slam to left for the 9-7 win.

On the bright side, J.D. Davis homered twice in his return to the lineup.

Sunday started off as another frustrating one for the Mets, but a late rally sparked a thrilling, gutsy victory. Travis Blankenhorn homered, Dom Smith had three hits, and Michael Conforto cracked a clutch go-ahead two run shot in the ninth. Trevor May secured the save and the 7-6 win.

The Mets ended up going 1-2 on the shortened week, and entered play on Monday two games up on the Phillies in the NL East.

Hitter of the Week: J.D. Davis

Upon returning from the injured list on Friday night, J.D. Davis told reporters, “when I get an opportunity to bang, I’ll bang.”

He remained on the bench Friday, but got the start on Saturday, and he was certainly ready to bang. Davis had three hits, including a pair of two-run homers in the Mets’ heartbreaking 9-7 loss on Saturday night.

After singling the other way on his first AB, Davis cracked a first pitch fastball from Wil Crowe over the center field fence to give the Mets the early lead. Two innings later, he got to Crowe again. Davis worked the count full, and then went the other way with an impressive opposite field two run shot to make it 4-0 in the sixth.

In a very small sample size, Davis entered play on Monday with a 1.177 OPS and hitting .388 through 50 at-bats. With Francisco Lindor on the injured list, Davis figures to see plenty of playing time over the next few weeks.

He’ll look to keep providing a spark for this red-hot Mets offense this week in Cincinnati and then back home against the Toronto Blue Jays.

Pitcher of the Week: Tylor Megill

Rookie right-hander Tylor Megill has been outstanding thus far for the Mets in his young career.

Heading into play on Saturday night, Megill had posted a 3.50 ERA and stuck out 26 batters over his first four big league starts. Starting against the Pirates for the second consecutive start, Megill went out and provided the Mets with another solid outing.

Megill reached the sixth inning and didn’t issue a walk for the first time in his career. Despite the Pirates getting a runner on in every inning expect the sixth, Megill kept his cool and tossed six scoreless innings. He allowed six hits on the night and walked just two batters.

After recording his first quality start of his big league career, Megill now has a 2.62 ERA, 1.21 WHIP, 28 strikeouts, and just nine walks and seven earned runs over 24 innings pitched.

The young righty has been a blessing for the injury plagued Mets starting rotation. Since being called-up from Triple-A Syracuse, Megill has provided the Mets with exactly what they needed and some.

With Jacob deGrom on the injured list for the foreseeable future, the Mets will need Megill to continue pitching like he has thus far. He’ll likely take the mound next in Friday night’s series opener against the Toronto Blue Jays back home at Citi Field.