Poor pitching and offense have defined the Mets following the trade deadline. In a Saturday night matchup between Tylor Megill and Kyle Gibson, it was more of the same as the Orioles defeated the Mets 7-3. New York has now lost five consecutive games while being outscored 37-14.

Credit: Brett Davis-USA TODAY Sports

In his return to the big leagues after a shaky stint in the minors, Megill was hit hard right from the outset. The electrifying one-two punch of Adley Rutschman and Gunnar Henderson led off the game with a single and a home run, putting the Mets in an early 2-0 hole to try to climb out of.

Megill managed to limit any further damage before settling in for a scoreless second inning. However, he allowed a run in each of the next three innings to end his night, including a fifth-inning homer off the bat of Anthony Santander. Megill exited the game having given up five earned runs over 4 2/3 innings, allowing nine hits and striking out three.

“I know that some people might not look at it that way, but I thought it was a good step for him stuff-wise,” Buck Showalter said of Megill after the game. “They did a nice job with him down in Syracuse. He looked more like himself and it’s got a chance to progress better as we go.”

On the other side, Gibson pitched well against the Mets’ lineup aside from two hiccups in the fourth and sixth innings. After throwing three perfect innings with six strikeouts his first time through the order, Gibson allowed a double to Brandon Nimmo and a two-run homer to Jeff McNeil, McNeil’s fourth long ball of the year and his first in nearly two months.

McNeil delivered again in the sixth inning after Francisco Lindor reached base via a two-out bloop double. He lined a ball into the outfield which scored Lindor to make it a 5-3 game, keeping the Mets firmly within striking distance. Gibson finished strong, though, exiting after seven strong innings and never allowing the Mets to take the lead.

Baltimore responded to McNeil’s RBI hit in the bottom of the inning, scoring for the fourth consecutive inning with an RBI double off the bat of Ryan McKenna to give the Orioles a 6-3 lead. The O’s added on again in the ninth against Phil Bickford, with Rutschman hitting an RBI double to extend the lead to four.

That proved too much for the Mets to overcome as they never threatened to take the lead, let alone score, over the final three innings. With Megill struggling on the mound and McNeil providing all the offense, the Mets once again gave themselves little to no chance to win. With their fifth consecutive loss following the trade deadline, the Mets now sit at 50-60 on the year.

Megill’s Return to the Rotation

Tylor Megill returned to the big league rotation out of necessity with both Justin Verlander and Max Scherzer out of the picture. He struggled against a potent Orioles lineup, giving up a run in four of the five innings he was on the mound to raise his season ERA from 5.17 to 5.45. If there’s one positive that can be taken away from his outing, it’s that the velocity on his fastball looks as if it’s back to normal after it dipped in several of his starts earlier in the year.

On Deck

The Mets will wrap up their series with the Orioles on Sunday at 1:35 p.m. ET. José Quintana (0-2, 3.57 ERA) will be on the mound for his fourth start of the year for the Mets, while Kyle Bradish (7-6, 3.32 ERA) will look to continue his strong season for Baltimore. The game will be broadcast on SNY.