With numerous arms down for the middle match of a three-game set with the White Sox on Monday night, Carlos Mendoza knew the Mets were going to have to piece this one together to get through the later innings.
Tylor Megill threw well despite not having his best stuff. The right-hander allowed a two-run homer to the second batter he faced and was forced to work around traffic for the majority of the night, toughing his way through five-plus innings before being pulled after issuing a pair of two-out walks in the sixth.
José Butto then entered and escaped a bases-loaded jam for the second straight night.
Butto returned for the seventh and found himself in some trouble of his own doing, as a pair of singles and a double resulted in two White Sox coming in to score, making it a one-run ballgame — but lefty José Castillo bailed him out, striking out Edgar Quero on just three pitches.
“Honestly, I thought he was good today,” Mendoza said of Butto. “We got a groundball and couldn’t turn the double play, the inning was over there pretty much — but he came in with the bases loaded again like yesterday and got out of it with one pitch.”
Castillo started the eighth, but was pulled after allowing a leadoff single to Austin Slater.
Reed Garrett then entered and continued his tremendous stretch of pitching — striking out the pinch-hitter Luis Robert Jr. and center fielder Michael A. Taylor, before closing the door with an easy top of the ninth.
It was Garrett’s sixth career save, and his second in the last three days.
With another scoreless appearance, he’s now down to an incredible 0.76 ERA on the season — which is good enough for the fourth-best among relievers in baseball.
“All of his pitches were working,” Mendoza said. “The cutter, the sinker, the split, really good — he got swing-and-misses with all of his pitches. He got ahead and put them away, when he’s doing that he’s pretty nasty.”
As a group, the Mets continue to lead the majors with a terrific 2.80 ERA.
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