Livescore
The Mets got six solid innings from Tylor Megill, just enough from the offense – with some help from bad Blue Jays defense – and fine back-end of the bullpen work to earn a 3-2 win in Toronto on Monday night.
New York, despite recording just three hits, improved to 79-65 on the year and gained a game on the Atlanta Braves in the NL wild-card race after their loss to the Cincinnati Reds. The Mets are also now just 1.5 games behind the San Diego Padres for the top wild-card spot.
Here are the takeaways…
– Megill worked himself into a two-out jam in the bottom of the first issuing a walk to Vladimir Guerrero Jr. before Spencer Horowitz roped a double down the right field line. A second walk loaded the bases and had Jeremy Hefner out for a visit. Megill got Alejandro Kirk to hit a comebacker, that he deftly fielded, to strand three Jays.
After a 30-pitch first frame, Megill rebounded by retiring the next nine batters in a row on just 29 pitches, grabbing four strikeouts. The right-hander had 11 whiffs on 30 swings with six more called strikes through 12 outs.
Megill got his best frame in the fifth, striking out the side (two swinging) to extend his streak of batters retired to 13. A 1-2-3 sixth marked the end of Megill’s night with a final line of 6.0 innings, one hit, no runs, two walks and nine strikeouts on 88 pitches (55 strikes). After the two-out walk to load the bases, nothing over the next 58 pitches.
– Lefty Danny Young, first out of the bullpen, ended the consecutive batter retired streak with a one-out walk and a single to put runners on first and second. After Toronto went for a right-handed pinch-hitter against the lefty, Carlos Mendoza countered with righty Jose Butto to protect the Mets’ one-run lead.
A 2-1 sinker got too much of the middle of the plate to Ernie Clement, but the sharp single to left only loaded the bases. Butto fell behind again and the infield came in for a visit to pump up or calm down the 26-year-old. But on the very next pitch, the righty’s 2-0 fastball ran in and hit Leo Jimenez to bring in the tying run.
A sac fly to right gave Toronto a 2-1 lead before Butto got George Springer looking to end the threat.
– Jesse Winker’s walk to start the eighth gave the Mets a leadoff runner for the second straight inning. This time Francisco Alvarez’s dribbler to third went for an infield hit and put runners on the corners with an errant throw. Francisco Lindor – hitless in his last 14 at-bats – worked a walk and the bases were loaded with nobody out. A wild pitch tied the game – scoring pinch-runner Tyrone Taylor – and put the go-ahead run on third, but Mark Vientos went down looking on a curveball that appeared to be above the zone.
However, a ball in the dirt went for a passed ball and Eddy Alvarez – pinch-hitting for the catcher and making his Mets debut – scampered home for a 3-2 lead.
With just one hit in the inning – their second of the night – New York proved it is better to be lucky than good scoring twice thanks to a pair of walks, an error, a wild pitch and a passed ball.
– Ryne Stanek fell behind the first batter he saw 3-0, but battled back to get a strikeout en route to striking out the side to keep the lead heading for the ninth. Stanek got the Jays’ 2-3-4 hitters all swinging on a 97 mph fastball, a 99 mph fastball and an 89 mph splitter.
– Edwin Diaz in the ninth got two outs with strikeout looking and a pop-up to right before an infield single gave Toronto another chance. And Jiménez lined one deep to right, but there was just enough room for Starling Marte to make the catch to end the game.
– The Mets struck first in the fourth. After Pete Alonso worked a two-out walk and Jose Iglesias got plunked on the tuchus, J.D. Martinez poked a run-scoring single (New York’s first hit of the night) through the right side of the infield.
– Toronto went with opener Ryan Burr and despite a hit batter in the first, he cruised through two frames without allowing a single hard-hit ball and collecting three strikeouts.
Francisco Alvarez hit a scorcher up the middle (109.6 mph off the bat with an xBA of .780) but it went right at the second baseman in a 1-2-3 third. The hard luck continued for the catcher, he entered Monday night eight for his last 69 (.116) with a .159 slugging percentage (just one extra-base hit) in his last 25 games. But he finished the day 1-for-2 with a walk.
– Paul Blackburn was scheduled to make the start, but lower back issues coming out of his final rehab start flared up and delayed his return to the rotation.
Highlights
MVP of the Game: Tylor Megill
With the offense doing not much of anything, the Mets’ right-hander did very well to put a rough first behind him and put up a solid six scoreless innings with nine strikeouts and allowing just one hit, a career-high mark.
What’s next
The Mets and Jays continue the series with a 7:07 p.m. first pitch scheduled for Tuesday night north of the border.
Left-hander David Peterson (2.75 ERA and 1.312 WHIP in 98.1 innings looks to keep the good times rolling. In his last seven starts, the 29-year-old has pitched to a 1.81 ERA over 44.2 innings.
Toronto counters with ex-Met Chris Bassitt (4.30 ERA and 1.427 WHIP in 157 innings). The right-hander, who leads MLB in hits allowed (165) this year, has a 6.00 ERA in his last 27 innings over five starts.
Read the full article here
