Tylor Megillhas had ups and downs as he enters his fifth big league season with the Mets. But the talent of his right arm has never been in doubt.
“It starts with having really good stuff, he's got good stuff,” manager Carlos Mendoza said before Megill started Friday’s game in Houston.
“If he’s aggressive and he’s trusting his pitches in the zone? He’s a guy, he’s a dude,” the skipper added. “He’s got that potential… he’s been through a lot in this league, and he’s ready to take that next step.”
Against the Astros, Megill retired the first nine batters he faced en route to a fine five-inning outing that saw him allow one run on three hits and a walk with six strikeouts in the Mets’ 3-1 win.
“I thought he was really good,” Mendoza said. “I thought he threw strikes. Early on, he was attacking; they hit some balls hard, but that’s what we are asking him to do: to throw strikes, stay on the attack.”
And that was the prescription for the 29-year-old: Simplifying his game and being efficient with his pitches.
“When we can keep it simple, just use two-three pitches against righties, two- three pitches against lefties. Get strike one, continue to stay in the attack, trust the defense, trust your pitches in the strike zone,” the manager said pregame. “I think that’s gonna be the key for him.”
Megill, who threw a strike on the first pitch to 11 of 19 batters he faced, had 49 strikes on 77 pitches. He went heavy on the fastball, sinker, and slider – accounting for 72 of his offerings – against a right-handed heavy Astros lineup.
“We executed really well,” he said, after getting 10 whiffs on 35 swings with 14 called strikes for a 31 called-strike whiff percentage. The slider was working very well for him, contributing five whiffs on eight swings.
“Putting pressure on hitters, getting ahead early, and getting to two strikes as fast as possible,” Megill said. “That allows me to go after them with the secondary stuff and get some strikeouts and then some weak contact.”
The sinker, a pitch the manager said before the game his starter would have to show good “awareness” in deploying against the right-handed Astros – came up big getting an inning-ending double play in the fifth.
“Huge,” Megill said. “That’s kinda what the pitch is for: get the ball in play and let the defense work. And it helps me out, especially there. Obviously, used to be predominantly four-seam, get fly outs or whatnot, but sinker really allows ball on the infield hit to a position player.”
In the fourth inning, the Astros bit him for their only run of the night – with back-to-back singles setting up a sacrifice fly – the manager praised the starter for avoiding a big inning.
“He kept making pitches,” Mendoza said. “The last couple of innings he was really good, got in trouble there, we didn’t make a play the leadoff hitter in the sixth [on the dropped third strike], but I thought overall he threw the ball really well.”
Now comes the challenge of repeating the performance and proving he can be a guy, a dude, as the manager said.
“I think, day in and day out, gotta stay working; consistency is the name of the game,” Megill said. “If I can go out and do what I did tonight, keep that going forward, throughout the whole year, I think I’ll end up in really good shape.”
Bullpen keeps at it
In that sixth, Mendoza turned to Reed Garrett with runners on first and second and nobody out. The right-hander worked around a one-out walk to put out the fire with two strikeouts.
“Unbelievable job coming in in that situation,” the manager said. “Getting a strikeout, understanding that there was a base open [against Yordan] Alvarez and he could still make pitches. And that’s what he did.”
After Garrett in the sixth, Mendoza went with A.J. Minter and Ryne Stanek to bridge the gap to Edwin Diaz. But, as he has said all spring, the roles for the high-leverage situations will be based on who is coming up in the lineup and who is available that day.
“We’ll play the matchups there,” Mendoza said. “You saw it today in that situation; we like Reed Garrett at the top with traffic, and then it lined up perfectly after that.”
When it came time for Diaz in the ninth, the closer was all business: getting five called strikes, five fouls, and two whiffs on 15 pitches.
"As soon as I started warming up in the bullpen, I knew my pitches were really good today," Daiz said. "And I just came out and tried to have fun. That's what I did."
After Diaz’s velocity had been a topic of conversation during the spring – at least outside the Mets’ clubhouse – the four-straight 98 mph fastballs he threw to start the ninth inning quieted any chatter on that front.
“Of course, we weren’t worried about the velo,” Mendoza said. “We knew that once the lights goes on we’re gonna see typical Sugar.”
"Today, the intensity was higher than it was in spring training," the closer added. "Spring training, sometimes you go out and just try and work on things, so I wasn't paying attention much to my velo. I knew today, as soon as I start playing catch, I knew my velo was there. Was feeling strong. It's way different in the season than spring training."
The thing that impressed the skipper most about the 1-2-3 ninth: “How easy he attacked. He came in and attacked hitters right away… he was attacking in the strike zone and just challenge those guys.”
Unsung bullpen hero
Of course, on a night he didn't appear, Huascar Brazobán played a role after retiring seven of the nine batters he faced on Opening Day to eat up innings after Clay Holmes' short start.
“It was huge,” the skipper said of Brazobán before the game Friday. “It was huge for him to go three ups, 2.1 I think it was, pretty much save our bullpen when Clay comes out of the game after 4.2, for him to go out there and pitch efficiently.
"It was an easier decision for me to send him back out there [because] he’s built up for that. We had him up to 35 pitches in spring training. And the fact that he was able to do that and pretty much save some of the other guys for [Friday night] and for the rest of the series, it was huge.”
