Tylor Megill can't get out of his own way as Mets fall to Yankees
Tylor Megill of the New York Mets reacts during the third inning against the New York Yankees at Yankee Stadium on Friday. Credit: Jim McIsaac
For years, Mets fans have seen the pattern: Tylor Megill, that lumbering pitcher with so much promise, will show flashes of brilliance before eventually faltering in a yo-yo act that’s caused him to be both dominant and demoted in the same season.
And as the Yankees swarmed around Megill in the third inning of the Mets’ 6-2 loss at Yankee Stadium on Friday night, it felt as if it were happening again. Megill lost the strike zone, seemingly lost his confidence and eventually lost the game.
“Four walks in an inning isn’t going to cut it,” he said after allowing four runs, all in the third. “I got into a tough situation myself, tried to pitch, make some pitches for chase, keep the score close and ended up walking quite a few.”
Megill’s disastrous third inning started with a leadoff single by No. 9 batter Jorbit Vivas; one out later, he walked Aaron Judge. Cody Bellinger and Paul Goldschmidt reached on infield singles and Francisco Lindor’s throwing error on Goldschmidt’s hit put the Yankees up 2-0. Jasson Dominguez walked and Anthony Volpe gave the Yankees a 3-0 lead with a sacrifice fly. Two more walks forced another runner home and ended Megill’s night.
He allowed four runs and four hits in 2 2⁄3 innings, with four strikeouts, and matched a career high with five walks.
It was the continuation of a troubling trend for Megill, who has failed to have sustained success in the big leagues despite obvious talent. He has a career 2.45 ERA in March and April and a 6.41 ERA in May and June. That’s continued this season, as he’s seen his ERA balloon from 1.09 after a start against the Phillies on April 21 to 3.74. He’s allowed 15 earned runs in 18 2⁄3 innings in his last four starts.
Afterward, Carlos Mendoza pooh-poohed the notion that some mysterious ailment causes Megill to be one pitcher in the early months and a completely different one as the season rolls on. “We’ve just got to keep working with him,” he said. “His stuff is there. As long as he continues to feel healthy, feel good, he’s going to be fine. We’ve got to continue to keep working with him, we’ve got to go back and watch film and make some adjustments when we need to, but it comes down to him executing, whether it’s May, whether it’s June, it comes down to him executing pitches, and he will.”
Megill’s outing did highlight the Mets’ somewhat fragile rotational success. Considered a weakness coming into the season — particularly in light of significant injuries to Sean Manaea and Frankie Montas — the unit has nonetheless been the best in baseball, coming into the day with a 2.74 ERA.
That, though, has come as Megill, Griffin Canning and Clay Holmes have exceeded initial expectations. Part of that no doubt is a credit to pitching coach Jeremy Hefner and the team’s highly touted (and highly secretive) pitching lab, but Megill’s regression does prompt some lingering questions. Mendoza, though, remained confident that the big righty eventually will answer some of them.
“I think it comes down to executing pitches and staying on the attack,” he said. “We’ve seen it. The outings early on when he was getting some results, he was throwing strikes, he was getting ahead, he was staying on the attack.”
If there is a bright(er) side, it’s that the Mets should expect some extra help in about a month or so.
Montas, who’s been sidelined since spring training with a lat strain, threw a live bullpen session in Brooklyn on Friday and is slated for another on Tuesday, Mendoza said. The Mets then will consider a rehab assignment if all goes well, which could set up Montas for a June return. Manaea (oblique) threw a bullpen session on Friday and will throw another Sunday.
Until at least then, the Mets will keep trying to unwrap the mystery of Megill. “We’ll continue to work with him,” Mendoza said. “We’ll run through it.”
Laura Albanese is a reporter, feature writer and columnist covering local professional sports teams; she began at Newsday in 2007 as an intern.
