Megill pitches like an "Ace" as Mets Thumb Nats in Soggy Opener

 

For a few hours late Thursday night, the heavy downpours that smacked the north-east dissipated in Washington D.C., and a cloud of uncertainty parted after Tylor Megill gave the New York Mets exactly what they were hoping for in a 5-1 Opening Night win over the Washington Nationals on Thursday night.

Megill was dominant, hitting the radar gun at 99 mph on multiple occasions as he blanked the Washington Nationals over five superb innings, allowing only three hits and striking out six.

“He was awesome. He was electric,” first baseman Pete Alonso said.

Taylor Megill pitches for the Mets. Getty Images.

Megill is not new to this. The 6-foot-7, 26-year old was impressive last season in his rookie year, recording 99 Ks in 89 innings. Outside of deGrom and Max Scherzer, Megill was the Mets’ best pitcher in Spring Training, giving manager Buck Showalter the confidence he needed to go with the once-unknown Mets starter.

Meanwhile, the Mets did just enough offensively to assist Megill into the winners’ circle. With the bases loaded in a scoreless game in the top of the fifth inning, James McCann took a pitch off his back foot, after sneakily sticking it out in order to get hit. It helped drive Robinson Cano in with the first run of the night.

Starling Marte would follow, grounding into an RBI fielder’s choice to make it 2-0 in the fifth.

The Mets would finally flex some muscle an inning later when Matt Canha got his first Mets RBI on a hard single to center to drive home Pete Alonso to make it 3-0. Jeff McNeill followed lining a blooper to right to push home Cano to give the Mets a 4-0 lead.

Francisco Lindor would tally the final run of the night for the Mets on a hard single to left-center in the seventh inning to give the Mets a 5-1 lead.

Adam Ottavino was impressive in his first outing out of the pen for the Amazin’s, striking out two batters in an inning in relief. Both Seth Lugo and Edwin Diaz tossed shutout innings. Trevor May struggled, giving up a mammoth home run to Juan Soto in the bottom of the sixth.

The Mets (1-0) turn the ball over to Max Scherzer tonight in his first game as a Met. Of course, you can watch that game IF, and only, IF you have access to Apple TV+.