With the latest injury to Jacob deGrom, and with the Mets wanting to give Max Scherzer an extra day of rest, the Mets sent 2021 standout Tylor Megill to the hill to face off against the Washington Nationals on Opening Day. In the clubhouse the Mets were playing a J. Cole playlist to hype up the team ahead of the first pitch, and J.D. Davis was unsure who chose the music, as the starting pitcher is usually who picks the playlist. Davis added that, “they call him [Megill] ‘Big Drip’ for a reason.”

The righty was spotless on Opening Day fanning six batters across five inning pitched while allowing just three hits with no walks on 68 pitches. With the injury concerns to half of the Mets’ rotation, it was quite the showing by Megill to start off his sophomore season, and to prove to the organization that he deserves a spot in the rotation.

The Big Drip backed that nickname up with multiple fastballs at 99 mph to the first batter of the game.

Cesar Hernandez began the season for the Nationals by striking out, which was followed up by a Juan Soto groundout to Robinson Canó, with Nelson Cruz ending the first inning for the Nationals by striking out for Megill’s second of the night. Josh Bell flew out to Mark Canha to begin the second inning, which was followed up by a double by Keibert Ruiz. Lane Thomas reached first based off of an error by Francisco Lindor, which was quickly put to rest by an inning ending double play from Maikel Franco.

Alcides Escobar started off the third inning by singling to left, which was later followed up by an infield single from Hernandez which brought Escobar to third after Víctor Robles sacrificed to the Megill. With Escobar on third, Megill was able to get Soto swinging for his third strikeout of the night, and Cruz ended the inning by grounding out to escape any damage.

The strikeout of Soto with runners on the corners in a scoreless game was a pivotal spot in the Opening Day start for Megill. Not only does Soto strike out very infrequently for a power hitter, but he struck out only 6.7% of the time last year with runners in scoring position.

Megill pitched his second 1-2-3 inning of the night in the fourth when he got Bell to ground out, Ruiz to fly out, and his fourth strikeout of the night when Thomas was caught swinging to end the inning. Megill’s final inning in the fifth, was his third 1-2-3 inning of the night, and probably his best inning of the night overall. He got Franco to pop out to begin the inning, and followed with back-to-back strikeout by Escobar and Robles to end his night.

The 26-year-old found himself in elite company with his strong outing, becoming just fourth Mets pitcher to strikeout at least six and allow no runs in an Opening Day start:

Part of the reason for that success was the increased velocity on his fastball, his 96.1 mph average was up significantly from his 94.6 mph average last year. He threw the four-seamer 39 times and got a whopping nine called strikes and 10 foul balls. His changeup saw an even bigger jump in velocity from 85.4 mph last season to 89.9 mph last night, and he even threw a 92 mph change that induced a ground ball from Juan Soto.

Not to be outdone on Thursday night, was the slider from Megill. Of the 14 sliders he threw, eight were swung at with five whiffs and two called strikes.

After the game, Mets first baseman Pete Alonso was fired up about how well Megill pitched in their 5-1 win over the Nationals. “He had a lot of poise, a lot of moxie,” Alonso said. “We fed off his energy.”

Megill was spotless, and the Mets are going to need more strong outings like this from Megill as they try to remain afloat with deGrom out for an unforeseen amount of time. On the bright side, it was a great Opening Day for the Mets all around, and Mets fans surely have a lot to look forward to this season.