Mandatory Credit: Charles LeClaire-USA TODAY Sports
The New York Mets (55-50) went to South Florida on Monday where they opened a four-game series with the Miami Marlins (45-61) at LoanDepot Park. Tylor Megill took the bump for the opening game as he looked to continue his rookie-year dominance thus far this season.
In the month of July, Megill struck out 27 batters and only allowed three runs in 26 innings. However, unlike his previous starts, Megill ran into some big trouble early on against the Marlins.
Megill started the first inning off by allowing back-to-back singles. He then ran into some trouble with his defense as James McCann was charged with catcher’s interference while Jesus Aguilar was at the plate.
Aguilar reached base on the interference to load the bases, and Lewis Brinson connected on one of Megill’s four-seam fastballs for a grand slam. Megill was charged for three of the four runs, matching the amount of earned runs he had given up in the entire month of July.
After the grand slam, Megill settled down to retire his next three batters faced, staying true to his usual calm mentality.
Megill also did not let his early first-inning struggles carry over to the second. He got Magneuris Sierra to pop out and got opposing pitcher Jesus Luzardo to strike out on a called third strike. After Jazz Chisholm got on base with a single, Megill closed the inning with a strikeout of Miguel Rojas on a changeup in the dirt.
In the third, Megill started things off by getting Aguilar to ground out for the first out. He ran into some brief trouble right after, as Brinson singled on a ground ball to third and came home three pitches later on an Isan Diaz double to right field. Megill responded in kind by getting his next two batters faced to strike out swinging.
Megill responded even further by putting together a dominant and efficient fourth inning. He used 10 pitches to get a groundout and a couple of flyouts en route to a perfect inning.
In the fifth, Megill got into a groove as he once again had a 1-2-3 inning. This time he induced three groundballs on three mid-80 MPH changeups.
Overall, Megill struck out four and allowed six hits, five runs (four earned) and no walks on 94 pitches through five innings. His ERA increased by more than half a run from 2.04, but is still at a solid 2.68.
Megill got off to a tough start, but was able to keep his composure and even got into a late groove. Although the Mets were able to come within a run after the top of the third, the five runs given up by Megill proved to be too much in this game.
