Rookie starter Tylor Megill has been a godsend in the Mets' rotation since he received his first call-up on June 23.
Entering his start against the Marlins on Monday night, Megill held a 2.04 ERA in his first seven outings in the majors, which was the second-best stretch for a pitcher to start their Mets' career since Hall of Fame legend Nolan Ryan.
However, last night, Megill ran into his first bump in the road since making his major league debut.
The Marlins' lineup got to Megill early, loading the bases via two singles, and a catcher's interference to start the evening. And the fourth batter in Lewis Brinson, made Megill pay with a grand slam to put the Marlins ahead 4-0 in the bottom of the first.
This rough first inning was a shock for the Mets and Megill, as the rookie right-hander had only allowed three total runs in the month of July leading up to his last start.
At this point, it looked like Megill's outing would be short-lived, as his pitch count was already hovering around 30 pitches after the first.
But as he has often shown in his young big-league career, Megill's poise allowed him to buckle down for the remainder of the game. Following the grand slam, Megill gave up just three more hits and a run, and was able to complete five innings to save the Mets' bullpen from having to pitch an extended number of innings.
Megill's final line was five innings pitched, five runs (four earned) on six hits, and four strikeouts.
And after the game, he was happy with himself for being able to battle through the rest of his outing after the rough beginning.
"Things looked shaky, but being able to go back out for four, and keeping the team in the game, while saving arms in the bullpen (was huge)," said Megill. " It could've gone south really badly, but you have to take the good with the bad."
According to Megill, his fastball command wasn't there, so he had to compensate by throwing more change ups. And once he was able to trust his stuff, he settled down.
"Never straying from filling up the strike zone and trusting my stuff," said Megill of his ability to bounce-back. "The fastball command I feel like wasn't there today."
Manager Luis Rojas also felt that Megill should've only been charged with three runs, as the Mets' defense failed him with a couple of misplays.
While Megill was able to bare down to give the Mets length, the first inning grand slam was too much for the offense to overcome in a 6-3 loss.
The Mets have now dropped two straight games, and four of their last five overall. Their lead in the NL East is down to just 2.5 games, and they must capitalize in their final three contests of the series against the last-place Marlins with a number of tough opponents coming up on the schedule in the coming weeks.
Right-hander Taijuan Walker will look to right the ship for himself on Tuesday night, as he has endured three shaky starts leading up to tonight's outing.
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