Megill fumbles as Mets lose rare back-to-back games

New York drops two straight games to the Rays at home. Plus, how the pitching depth has taken a hit in recent days.

What’s up with the Mets? ⚾

• The Mets lost their second straight game, falling to the Rays by an 8-4 score (box)

• RHP Tylor Megill struggled mightily, allowing six runs (three earned) on seven hits and two walks over 3.2 innings pitched – Megill also committed a costly error in the field

• Opposing batters are hitting .358 with a .913 OPS against Megill with runners in scoring position this season

• LF Brandon Nimmo went 3-for-4 with two RBI at the plate in the loss

• 2B Brett Baty and 3B Ronny Mauricio each hit solo home runs

• RF Juan Soto went 0-for-4 at the plate, ending his 15-game on-base streak

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Injury Updates 🏥

• 3B Mark Vientos (low-grade hamstring strain) will begin a rehab assignment early this week in Triple-A Syracuse

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Who’s Hot? 🔥

• LF Brandon Nimmo is hitting .367/.406/.700 with three home runs, a double, seven RBI, seven runs scored and a 1.106 OPS over his last seven games

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Play of the Game ⭐️

This was a death by a thousand cuts type of loss for the Mets and while there were plenty of plays to choose from, this error by Tylor Megill felt pretty emblematic of Saturday afternoon’s game.

After giving the lead back to the Rays, Megill had a chance to get an easy out on a suicide squeeze attempt. The go-ahead run would have scored no matter what, but Megill had an opportunity to get the second out of the inning which could have helped stop the bleeding.

Instead, the big righty dropped the ball as he attempted to throw to first and everyone was safe. Three more runs wound up scoring in the inning, and the Mets never really threatened to get back into the game after that.

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Down on the Farm 🌾

• RHP Nolan McLean (No. 6 prospect, Triple-A): 6 IP, 4 H, 3 R (2 ER), 3 BB, 3 K

• CF Jett Williams (No. 1 prospect, Double-A): 3-for-5, 2B, RBI, 2 runs scored

• 1B Ryan Clifford (No. 4 prospect, Double-A): 2-for-4, 2B, 2 RBI,

• OF Carson Benge (No. 3 prospect, High-A): 1-for-4, RBI

BOX SCORES

Low-A STL | High-A BRK | Double-A BNG | Triple-A SYR

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Today’s Game 🗓️

Match-up: Mets (45-26) vs. Rays (38-32)

Where: Citi Field — Flushing, NY

Starters: RHP Griffin Canning (6-2, 3.22 ERA) vs. RHP Shane Baz (5-3, 4.97 ERA)

When: 1:40 PM EDT

Where to Watch: WPIX

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Not what you want to see out of the Mets pitching staff… ✍️

When Kodai Senga went down with an injury on Thursday afternoon, the Mets knew they were going to need to rely on their pitching depth even more over the next couple weeks.

That depth has largely delivered in a big way this season, seamlessly making up for the absences of both Sean Manaea and Frankie Montas, neither of whom has made their season debuts to this point. And while the injury news on Senga was largely positive, they’ll still be without him for a minimum of two weeks… if not longer.

In these first couple days since that injury… things have not gone particularly great for those Mets depth arms.

After just barely escaping a ninth inning meltdown at the end of Thursday’s game, the Mets got a really nice performance from Clay Holmes on Friday night. The thing there was that Holmes hadn’t recovered particularly well from his previous start in Colorado, and came out of the game after five innings at only 79 pitches to try and save his arm and stamina a bit. It was a long-term play with the rest of the season in mind and one that I have a hard time arguing with, especially considering that this is Holmes’ first season transitioning into a starting pitcher.

The problem, of course, was the effectiveness of those who relieved him. Paul Blackburn, who has been solid in a pair of outings since his lengthy return from the injury list, poured fuel on the fire as a 5-1 Mets lead was instantly wiped away. Blackburn, who you could tell had nothing from the get-go, was charged with four earned runs on four hits while retiring just one batter in his outing, and got an equal amount of poor relief as Max Kranick entered behind him.

Kranick had been a really great story for the Mets throughout Spring Training and over the first couple weeks of this season, pitching to a 2.55 ERA over his first 12 appearances. Kranick began to struggle after that, pitching to a 4.30 ERA in the month of May before getting optioned to Triple-A Syracuse. In his second game since getting called back up to the big leagues, Kranick allowed the remainder of Blackburn’s inherited runners to score and allowed a pair of runs of his own.

In the end, Blackburn and Kranick combined to allow six runs in the 6th inning of Friday night’s game, and New York was never able to recover despite ample opportunities with runners in scoring position.

On Saturday afternoon, Tylor Megill had the opportunity to stake his claim to hold onto his rotation spot when the inevitable returns of Manaea, Montas and Senga come. Unfortunately for Megill, Saturday’s performance was far too reminiscent to what fans have been seeing out of him throughout his entire Mets career.

Much like Blackburn and Kranick before him, one big inning largely did Megill in during what was an ineffective start. The hulking right-hander allowed seven hits, six runs (three of them earned) and two walks with five strikeouts over 3.2 innings pitched. Megill also committed a throwing error during the crucial five-run 4th inning, which allowed for additional runs to eventually come across to score.

Two games is a wildly small sample size and aren’t enough to cause any legitimate level of concern for a team that’s 19 games over .500 and leading their division, but it does remind you of how much the Mets have been relying on depth pieces to hold their starting rotation together for large portions of the first half of this season.

Assuming everything goes to plan, New York won’t have to hold on for much longer before reinforcements arrive back from the injured list. But they still have, at minimum, a few more weeks before that day comes. They will need to continue to find a way to hold down the fort until then to avoid any sort of meaningful skid. Griffin Canning will have the first crack at that later this afternoon as the Mets look to salvage this series with Tampa Bay.

But it’s going to take all of them to keep this thing together just a little bit longer…

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Around the League 🚩

• Braves RHP Spencer Strider struck out 13 and OF Ronald Acuña Jr. homered yet again in Atlanta’s 4-1 win over the Rockies

• Phillies OF Max Kepler crushed a go-ahead homer in the 8th inning in the club’s 3-2 win vs. the Blue Jays

• Astros rookie Cam Smith delivered the first walk-off hit of his career as the team beat the Twins, 3-2

• The Nationals recent struggles continued in their 4-3 loss to the Marlins, their seventh consecutive defeat