The Mets finally got a full game of baseball in on Saturday afternoon, in the first game of a doubleheader with the Phillies. For the second time in eight days, Tylor Megill and Taijuan Walker matched up against each other after Walker and the Phillies triumphed the first time around. It was a different story in this one, with Megill and the Mets taking a 4-3 win.

Megill was fantastic in what is his final start of the year, concluding a really good string of starts as he makes a case to be a member of the rotation in 2024. After battling with control in the first inning, Megill settled in and dominated what was admittedly not the Phillies’ most potent lineup. Nevertheless, Megill’s performance was another positive sign as he continues to show improvement.

After seven brilliant innings, Megill stayed on to start the eighth inning and got into his first trouble of the game by allowing back-to-back hits to start the inning. Megill stayed on for one more batter, recorded the out, and was pulled in favor of Brooks Raley. Megill’s night ended after 101 pitches and 7 1/3 innings, officially the longest start of his career.

Raley allowed one of Megill’s baserunners to score after allowing a two-out bloop single off the bat of Edmundo Sosa, breaking up the shutout that Megill had been throwing. Still, it was an extremely impressive performance. Over his 7 1/3 innings pitched, Megill allowed one run on four hits and two walks, while striking out seven. Megill’s best start of the season lowered his season ERA considerably from 4.92 to 4.70.

In addition to Megill’s dominance, the Mets helped their chances by going ahead early with a three-run first inning. The three runs in the inning were made possible due to aggressive baserunning by Rafael Ortega, Ronny Mauricio, and Francisco Lindor, who all made assertive moves on the base paths and subsequently came around to score. Pete Alonso (fielder’s choice) and Brett Baty (single) recorded RBIs in the inning, while Lindor scored via a wild pitch to give the Mets an early 3-0 lead.

Omar Narváez joined the party the very next inning, leading off the second with a solo homer to extend the Mets’ lead to four. Despite this early offense, the Mets’ bats quieted down as Walker settled into the game, and Walker finished his outing without allowing another run. Walker was pulled after seven innings, which is remarkable considering how disastrously the game started for him, and he allowed the Phillies to remain in the game.

After Raley was able to limit further damage in the eighth inning by allowing just one run to score, Adam Ottavino was called on to pitch the ninth inning in a 4-1 game. Ottavino made things interesting, starting off the inning by allowing a four-pitch walk to J.T. Realmuto. He missed on his next two pitches before ultimately getting Bryson Stott to ground out, but he then allowed an RBI ground-rule double by Brandon Marsh and an RBI single by rookie Weston Wilson to make it a 4-3 game.

Taking advantage of Ottavino’s extremely slow motion to the plate, Wilson stole both second and third base, putting the tying run just 90 feet away. Ottavino bent but didn’t break, striking out Jake Cave to bring the Mets one out away from a win before he got Cristian Pache to fly out, ending the game and securing a much-deserved win for Megill. With the victory, the Mets’ record improved to 73-86.

Player of the Game

There’s no question that Tylor Megill is the player of the game for the Mets. He looked comfortable all afternoon on the mound and didn’t even allow a baserunner to reach second base until the eighth inning. Over his last eight starts to finish the season, Megill allowed 15 runs in 45 innings pitched, which equates to a 3.00 ERA. Fighting for a spot in the 2024 rotation, Megill pitched about as well down the stretch as one could have hoped.

On Deck

There is still one more baseball game to be played tonight, with the Mets and Phillies meeting for the second game of the doubleheader. José Quintana (3-6, 3.39 ERA) will get his final start in what has been a really good debut season with the Mets. Quintana will match up against Michael Plassmeyer (0-0, 0.00 ERA), who is making his 2023 debut and just the third major league appearance (first start) of his career. The game will be broadcast on PIX11.