Mandatory Credit: John Jones-USA TODAY Sports
On Roberto Clemente Day, the New York Mets sent Tylor Megill to the mound in the series finale against the St. Louis Cardinals in Flushing. Megill was coming off a winning effort against the Yankees where he threw seven innings of two-run baseball with 10 strikeouts. With playoff chances becoming a mere sliver, the Mets needed another solid start from the rookie.
The top of the first started with a walk to leadoff man, Tommy Edman, on four pitches. Paul Goldschmidt then doubled to left fielder Jeff McNeil as Edman stopped at third. The next batter was Tyler O’Neill, who hit a line-drive double to center field, giving the Cardinals an early 2-0 lead. After a mound visit, Megill proceeded to walk Nolan Arenado. Megill then got a much-needed double play from Yadier Molina for his first two outs of the night.
With the end of the inning in sight, Dylan Carlson singled to left field, which scored O’Neill, adding onto the Cardinals’ lead. Edmundo Sosa singled to right field on an 0-2 pitch, setting up first and third for Harrison Bader. Bader came through for the Cards with a bloop single that landed in front of Kevin Pillar in center, scoring both runners. Megill finally put the first inning to bed as he got Jon Lester to strike out. Nine batters came to the plate and five of them scored as Megill threw 37 pitches.
With an easy second inning needed, Megill started off strong by striking out Edman swinging. Goldschmidt then grounded to third baseman Jonathan Villar for the second out. O’Neill was then called out on strikes to end the inning. A nice 1-2-3 inning was definitely needed for the right-hander.
Arenado flew out to center field to start the third, then Molina reached base on an infield single. With one on, Carlson also flew out to center field. For the third out, Megill got Sosa to ground into a force out to shortstop Francisco Lindor who threw to second base for the out.
After the Mets cut the lead to 5-2, Bader took Megill deep in the top of the fourth, making it 6-2. Lester then doubled to the right-field corner on a ball that was misplayed off the wall by Michael Conforto. The next batter after Megill’s second mound visit of the night was Edman, who reached on an infield single courtesy of a Javier Baez throwing error. The throwing error also let Lester advance to third, which put runners on the corners with nobody out.
That would be all for Megill as Mets manager Luis Rojas emerged from the dugout. Miguel Castro came on in relief, and he got through the inning by getting Goldschmidt to ground out for the first out, then having O’Neill pop out to first baseman Pete Alonso and then getting Arenado to line out to Conforto.
Megill’s final line: 3+ IP, 9 H, 6 ER, 2 BB, 3 K, 1 HR
After not pitching a lot last year, the Mets have pushed their rookie starter 49 1/3 innings over his career-high that he set two years ago, which is something to monitor as the Mets’ season comes to a close. When asked about this, Megill replied that “it is what it is,” but “I’d like to keep throwing.”
With the Cardinals leading the NL Wild Card race, this was even more of a must-win game than usual, which made Megill’s start on Wednesday night a nightmare for the Mets. There are only 15 games left at this point for New York in the 2021 season. Games like the one on Wednesday night will perpetuate to this season not ending in a postseason berth.
