Tylor Megill, DJ Stewart power Mets past Pirates for series win
The Mets’ goal of resurrecting Tylor Megill won’t be accomplished overnight.
Here is what the team and pitcher can take from Wednesday afternoon: Megill was headed along a familiar path of getting blistered by an opponent, but had just enough guile to escape destruction.
It didn’t hurt that the right-hander was facing a less imposing lineup than in recent starts and received strong defense behind him.
Megill got his team through the fifth inning and two homers from DJ Stewart propelled the Mets to an 8-3 victory over the Pirates at Citi Field, a series win and .500 home stand.
The Mets will certainly take two runs over five innings from Megill, but it was harder to digest the nine runners he allowed to reach base, which included the leadoff batter in each of the first three frames.
“There is still another level that we have seen that he can get to,” manager Buck Showalter said. “Just the command and throwing [95] pitches he was fortunate to get through five with all the traffic and the walks. He’s better than that.”
In each of his previous two starts (against the Orioles and Braves) since he returned from Triple-A Syracuse this month, Megill had allowed five earned runs.
Though Megill’s increased velocity continues to impress (he averaged 95.5 mph Wednesday with his four-seam fastball, up from his season average of 94.6), the right-hander’s control issues resurfaced.
He walked four, giving him 44 walks over 86 ¹/₃ innings this season.
“You have him and [David Peterson], I want them to be more than depth,” Showalter said. “I want them to be one of the guys. We need them to graduate. We need them to graduate for a lot of reasons and they show flashes of it, and if we’re taking two steps forward and one step back I’m fine with that, but it seems like we can’t get over that hump sometimes. … I want them to be guys we can count on and I want them to use these starts they are getting to make us they think they could be and should be in there.”
Stewart’s homer in the second inning against Johan Oviedo was the first run of the game.
The blast was Stewart’s second in 44 at-bats with the club this season. But the Mets — and Stewart — were just getting started.
Omar Narvaez’s double and walks to Rafael Ortega and Brandon Nimmo loaded the bases with two outs in the inning before Francisco Lindor’s two-run single extended the Mets’ lead to 3-0.
Bryan Reynolds delivered a two-run homer in the third for the Pirates’ first runs.
Megill surrendered a leadoff double to Ke’Bryan Hayes before Reynolds pounded a 96-mph fastball for the 12th homer allowed by Megill in 18 starts this season.
“For the most part I felt like I was making good, quality pitches,” Megill said. “Regardless of if they were balls I feel like they were competitive where I was getting reactions from hitters, which is a good sign.”
Asked if Wednesday felt like progress over his previous two starts, Megill said: “Yeah, 100 percent.”
The Mets went ahead 4-2 in the fourth on Brandon Nimmo’s RBI single that extended his hitting streak to eight games. Ortega doubled to start the rally.
Two strong defensive plays helped Megill survive the fifth inning unscathed.
First, Jonathan Arauz ranged to his right at third base to grab Reynolds’ slow grounder and throw off balance to first base for the out.
Then, after a two-out walk, Joe Suwinski delivered a hit to right that Stewart fielded and threw to Jeff McNeil, whose relay to the plate nailed Andrew McCutchen.
“I’m honestly more proud about that than the home runs,” Stewart said.
Stewart’s second homer of the game, a two-run shot in the fifth, gave the Mets a 6-2 lead.
Daniel Vogelbach’s two-out walk started the rally after Pete Alonso walked leading off the inning and was thrown out attempting to steal second.
Alika Williams’ RBI single against Phil Bickford in the sixth sliced the Mets’ lead to 6-3.
Bickford walked Connor Joe leading off the inning and drilled Alfonso Rivas with two outs.
Alonso’s home run into the left-field seats leading off the seventh gave him 36 homers for the season.
The RBI was the 469th of his career, moving him ahead of Keith Hernandez for 10th place in Mets history.
Ortega added an RBI single before the inning was complete that extended the Mets’ lead to 8-3.
