Mandatory Credit: Brad Penner-USA TODAY Sports

The Mets began what will undoubtedly be their biggest test of the season on Friday night. Starting with Friday night’s game against the Dodgers, the Mets have a 13-game stretch where they will play the Dodgers and the Giants. After back-to-back rough outings, Tylor Megill took the mound on Friday night looking to bounce back.

Megill retired former National Trea Turner on a ground ball to J.D. Davis at third to start the game, but Max Muncy followed with a double down the right field line to put the Mets’ right-hander in early trouble. After striking out Will Smith, Megill faced Corey Seager with two outs in the inning. He got ahead of the 2020 NLCS and World Series MVP in the count 1-2, but Seager worked the count full before hitting an RBI double to the wall in centerfield. Megill struck out AJ Pollock to hold the Dodgers to just the one run. The Dodgers forced Megill to throw 32 pitches in the first inning.

Chris Taylor led off the second inning with a single that dropped in front of Kevin Pillar in left field, but the Dodgers were not able to advance him. Cody Bellinger struck out chasing a high fastball before former Met Billy McKinney popped out to Davis at third. Julio Urias struck out to end the inning.

Facing the top of the order in the third, Megill quickly found himself in trouble again. After Turner singled to start the inning, Muncy hit a ground ball that looked like a double-play ball off the bat. With the Mets shifting Muncy to pull the ball, the ground ball snuck through the vacated shortstop position to put runners on the corners with nobody out. Smith hit a sac fly to double the Dodgers’ lead, but a strikeout from Seager and a fly out from Pollock prevented any further damage.

After striking out Taylor, Megill allowed a single to Bellinger before walking McKinney and hitting Urias to load the bases for Turner. For the second consecutive inning, the Dodgers got a hard-hit sac fly when Turner flew out to the wall in center field. Muncy grounded out to Jonathan Villar to retire the side and get Megill out of trouble once again.

Megill had his first one-two-three inning of the night in the fifth inning. Smith and Seager both flew out to Brandon Nimmo in center before Pollock flew out to Pillar in left. After throwing 79 pitches to get through the first four innings, he retired the side in the fifth on just 13 pitches to finish his night.

Megill’s final line: 5 IP, 6 H, 3 ER, 1 BB, 6 K.

Megill was not at his best on Friday night, but he was good enough to give the Mets a chance to win the game. The Dodgers did not chase many pitches and had a great approach at the plate when they got runners in scoring position, but Megill was able to limit the damage every time they were threatening. Despite being in trouble in nearly every inning, Megill was able to get outs when he needed them and keep the Dodgers from having a big inning that ultimately gave the Mets the opportunity to rally in the seventh and nearly earn a comeback win.

Megill has shown an ability to step up when facing tough teams. In his brief MLB career, he has already had terrific starts against the Brewers, Blue Jays and Braves before toughing out five innings against the Dodgers on Friday. With Megill’s next start lined up to be in San Francisco against the team with the best record in baseball, the Mets will need Megill to continue his trend of shining when the lights are at their brightest.