As usual, Mets win on Opening Day; Pete Alonso OK after HBP
Mets starting pitcher Tylor Megill throws a pitch to the Washington Nationals during the first inning of an opening day baseball game at Nationals Park, Thursday, April 7, 2022, in Washington. Credit: AP/Alex Brandon
WASHINGTON — After the rain stopped, the players waved, the flag unfurled and the anthem played, the Mets did Thursday night what they so often do on Opening Day: win.
They began a new season by beating the Nationals, 5-1, behind five shutout innings from impromptu Game 1 starter Tylor Megill and a well-rounded offensive effort that included at least one hit from eight of nine starting batters (the ninth, James McCann, reached base twice when he was hit by pitches).
That upped the Mets’ all-time season-opener record to 40-21. Their .656 winning percentage is the highest in major-league history.
It was the 1,552nd win of new Mets manager Buck Showalter’s career and his first since Sept. 30, 2018, his final game with the Orioles.
“I don’t have any time to dwell on that,” he said of his professional interlude. “It’s one we gotta get — out of 161 now. We’re not going to win them all, but we’re going to try. Everybody does, right? There’s some nights when it won’t look aesthetically pleasing. Sometimes the baseball gods will get you. But tonight they smiled on us. That was pretty poetic.”
The Mets received a scare when Pete Alonso was hit in the shoulder/helmet faceguard/face by Mason Thompson’s 94.9-mph fastball in the ninth inning. The helmet flew off his head as he fell to the ground. His mouth a bit bloody, he popped up quickly and started to walk toward first base until Showalter called him back. The manager held Alonso by the belt loop as they walked back to the dugout.
Ice bag in hand, Alonso reappeared in the dugout during the bottom of the ninth.
“All good. Just a busted lip, that’s it. Got all my teeth. No concussion. I’m all good,” Alonso said, adding of his c-flap, the extra piece of batting helmet that protects the face: “If I wasn’t wearing that, I’d probably be missing teeth.”
A rainy day yielded to a calm if chilly night, but it sapped some of the Opening Day energy from the ballpark. First pitch was pushed back three hours to 7:05 p.m. a day earlier, then delayed further to 8:21 p.m. because of bad weather. The announced crowd of 35,052 appeared significantly smaller, especially by the middle innings. The game ended minutes before midnight.
Although they had to wait a bit longer than expected, the Mets eventually crossed off a bunch of firsts.
First hit: Starling Marte, the first batter of the game, a soft single to rightfield on a slider well off the plate from lefthander Patrick Corbin (two runs, 4 2⁄3 innings).
First strikeout: Megill, of Cesar Hernandez, the Nationals’ first batter, who watched a fastball for strike three.
First RBI: McCann, via a bases-loaded hit-by-pitch.
First run scored: Robinson Cano, on that McCann HBP.
First run allowed: Trevor May, on Juan Soto’s 428-foot home run in the sixth inning.
First game for Cano after his 2021-long PED suspension: 2-for-3, two runs, walk.
The show-stealer, though, was Megill, who drew this assignment because Jacob deGrom (right shoulder blade stress reaction) and Max Scherzer (pitching Friday after dealing with right hamstring tightness) had injuries.
With six strikeouts, no walks and three hits, Megill proved to be a worthy fill-in. He stretched the Mets’ Opening Day starting pitchers’ streak of scoreless innings to 22 (a run compiled mostly by deGrom). They haven’t had a starter allow a run in the first game of the year since Noah Syndergaard in 2018.
“He had a lot of poise, a lot of moxie,” Alonso said. “We fed off his energy.”
Showalter said: “It was good, huh? That was fun to watch. You couldn’t ask for much better.”
The gutsiest moment from Megill came in the third inning, when the Nationals had runners at the corners with one out and Soto, the National League MVP runner-up last year, due up. Soto struck out swinging on a 98-mph fastball over the heart of the plate and Nelson Cruz grounded out to second to end the frame.
That flash of velocity was perhaps the most interesting development of the night. Megill’s fastball maxed out at 99.1 mph, the hardest pitch of his career, and averaged 96.1 mph — a big jump up from his 94.6 as a rookie last year.
“I felt very relaxed and ready to go,” he said. “Just another start, at the end of the day. But I’ll remember this one.”
Tim Healey is the Mets beat writer for Newsday. Born on Long Island and raised in Connecticut, Tim has previously worked for the South Florida Sun Sentinel, the Boston Globe and MLB.com. He is also the author of “Hometown Hardball,” a book about minor league baseball in the northeast.
