You never want to give teams extra outs, and that was especially the case for Tylor Megill and the Mets on Saturday evening.
Taking a 2-1 lead into the fourth inning against the Tampa Bay Rays, the wheels fell off for Megill and the Mets.
It started with Megill allowing a game-tying solo shot from Junior Caminero on a sinker running in. Although the pitch resulted in a home run, props to Caminero for getting around it and launching it into the stands.
The next batter, Megill hit with a slider before a single and a strikeout led to arguably the biggest play of the inning. With one out and runners on first and third, Taylor Walls laid down a sacrifice bunt. Megill should have taken the out at first but while fielding, he took a look at home before turning to throw to first base. The big right-hander, however, could not grip the ball and it trickled away for an error.
Now with the Rays in front by one run, Megill struck out the next batter, in what should have been out the final out. Instead, back-to-back singles scored two more runs, then a walk loaded the bases. Megill then threw a wild pitch that allowed the fifth run of the inning to cross home plate before walking the bases loaded again, forcing manager Carlos Mendoza‘s hand.
“He was fine for the first time through the order. And then in that fourth inning, even after the first and third, he gets the strike out and then he doesn’t make the play on that bunt,” Mendoza said of Megill’s outing. “That’s two outs and then he gets the next guy… And then it spiraled on him. Base hit, base hit.
“There was a lot of non-competitive pitches, especially the secondary, there were a few pitches, ball out of the hand where he’s bouncing. And then when he came back in the zone, they were all over him. He lost it there, pretty much.”
Jose Castillo came in and got the final out of the fourth without any more damage but Megill’s final line was not pretty. He allowed six runs (three earned) on seven hits, two walks and two HBP.
It was the most runs Megill has allowed this season and the most he’s allowed since June of last year. But of all the moments in that fourth inning, Megill says the HBP after Caminero’s home run was the difference.
“Biggest difference, probably the hit-by-pitch,” Megill said. “Didn’t have a feel for the slider, especially coming in on the backfoot on the lefties. After that, made some good, quality pitches, sinker down and away, found a hole up the middle. The slider fell in short. Then a couple of walks, then a hung slider. By then, kinda ran up and was taken out.”
On his error, Megill said the ball felt like it went through his fingers, but admitted that while the ball was slick from the wet field, it wasn’t an excuse. He had to secure the ball.
“I should get my hand into my glove, secure it instead of trying to flip it into my hand,” he said.
On the wild pitch, Megill said he simply “pulled” the backdoor sinker.
But Megill’s error wasn’t the only one by a Mets pitcher on Saturday. Castillo led off the sixth with a fielding error that eventually came around to score. The Rays scored four runs on those two fielding errors, which was the difference in their 8-4 win over the Mets.
“We’ve been playing pretty good defense. They are a good team,” Mendoza said of the Rays. “When you give them extra outs, they play the small game. We saw it today. They get the bunt down, go the other way, put the ball in play and they are aggressive. That’s who they are. When you give good teams extra outs, extra bases, you are going to pay for it.”
It’s the first time the Mets have lost back-to-back games since mid-May and have now lost their second home series of the year (10-2). The Mets will look to salvage a win on Sunday before heading to Atlanta and Philadelphia for two consecutive divisional series.
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