Five days remain for the New York Mets in Port St. Lucie before they break camp for Houston. On Saturday, the Mets played all their regulars, even Luisangel Acuña, who got the start at second base, and Tylor Megill, who took the mound for New York.

Megill has pitched well in spring training, and with the injuries to Frankie Montas and Sean Manaea, he figures to be part of the plan in the rotation at least at the start of the season. He penciled in another solid performance as the Mets and Nationals played to a 5-5 tie. 

Photo by Ed Delany of Metsmerized

Megill Strikes Out Five

Megill wrapped up his spring training on Saturday afternoon by mixing his pitches and throwing with high movement and velocity. He used his fastball, sinker, and slider throughout his 5 1/3-inning performance. Megill struck out five, and of the six hits he gave up, only two left the infield. His fastball was up to 97 MPH and blew away batters throughout the game. He finishes the spring with an ERA of 4.24 and 18 strikeouts. 

Mets Big Bats Contribute

New York got an early 3-0 lead over the Nationals in the bottom of the 1st inning. A big reason for that was their offensive stars, who are expected to do big things during the regular season. Juan Soto started it with a 1-out walk. Pete Alonso followed Soto with an opposite-field single. Brandon Nimmo, who started in left field, smoked a ground-rule double to deep left field to drive in Soto. Down 0-2 in the count, Mark Vientos was able to hit a sacrifice fly to score Alonso. Jesse Winker wrapped the Mets’ productive inning with a first-pitch single that scored Nimmo. Later in the game, with the Mets down 5-4, Francisco Lindor recorded a game-tying base hit that scored Jose Siri. 

Hayden Senger Homers

The Mets need to find a backup catcher for Luis Torrens now that Francisco Alvarez will begin the season on the injured list. One of those backup candidates is Hayden Senger. In the bottom of the 7th inning, Senger blasted a home run to left-center field to cut the Nationals lead to 5-4. It was Senger’s first home run of the spring. 

Player Of The Game: Tylor Megill

Megill finished his spring training on a solid note, allowing three runs and striking out five in 5 1/3 innings. The Mets hope he can continue it in the regular season. 

On Deck

Griffin Canning, who has also pitched well in spring training, will make his last start before the regular season against the Miami Marlins on Sunday. Connor Gillispie will pitch for the Marlins. The game will be telecast locally on WPIX and broadcast on Audacy Mets Radio WHSQ 880AM at 1:10 pm EDT.