PHILADELPHIA — Tylor Megill dazzled on opening night, but if he wanted to earn street cred, here was an opportunity to face a big-boy lineup in a bandbox ballpark.
Tuesday night he left the Mets nodding in approval.
Blasting his improved heat, the right-hander stifled the Phillies into the sixth inning, leading a 2-0 victory at Citizens Bank Park that snapped the Mets’ two-game skid.
Megill, in the rotation because Jacob deGrom is sidelined with a stress reaction on his right scapula, ran his scoreless streak to 10 ¹/₃ innings to begin the season. He pitched five scoreless innings on opening night in Washington, followed by another 5 ¹/₃ in this gem. Dating to his final start of last year, Megill’s scoreless streak is 15 ¹/₃ innings.
“All my stuff is working really well right now,” Megill said. “I just have to keep going out and … just keep getting ahead of hitters.”
The right-hander peaked at 98.9 mph with a four-seam fastball in the first inning and overall averaged 96.7 mph with the pitch, muzzling a lineup that included Kyle Schwarber, J.T. Realmuto, Bryce Harper and Nick Castellanos. Overall, Megill allowed three hits and struck out five. He still hasn’t walked a batter this season.
“The game plan was to attack [with] the fastball and offset them with off-speed for strikes in the zone, so they have to respect the fastball a little bit more,” Megill said. “I think I did a really good job overall just pitching tonight.”
Megill last season pitched 130 ¹/₃ innings combined between the minor leagues and majors, a number manager Buck Showalter cited in his decision to remove the right-hander after only 76 pitches. Generally, young pitchers increase their workload in 20-30 inning increments from one season to the next.
“He got into the sixth inning tonight, that is huge,” Showalter said. “We have to be careful with the inning-increment jump because we’re trying to stay there. He was good, especially the second time around the order. He was good again.”
Showalter added: “He’s also serving in a time of need, too, with a couple of our pitchers down.”
Taijuan Walker was the latest pitcher to hit the injured list. The right-hander was diagnosed with bursitis in his right shoulder on Tuesday and will miss at least one start.
After two straight games in which the bullpen squandered leads, the Mets got the relief they needed, as Chasen Shreve, Drew Smith, and Edwin Diaz combined on 3 ²/₃ scoreless innings to protect the lead. Smith was particularly impressive with 1 ²/₃ scoreless innings, with three strikeouts, getting the ball to Diaz for his first save. Realmuto and Castellanos reached on infield singles in the ninth, but Diaz struck out Rhys Hoskins on a slider to end it. Diaz threw five straight sliders to get that final out.
“I kept pounding my slider away and they kept swinging, so why change my mentality?” said Diaz, who was activated from the bereavement list before the game, following his grandfather’s death on Friday.
Shreve got the final two outs in the sixth, retiring Schwarber and striking out Realmuto after Megill had allowed a leadoff single to Johan Camargo and Simon Muzziotti sacrificed him to second.
“This is one of the better offensive teams you are going to see all year,” Showalter said. “To shut them out in their ballpark, that is quite a tribute to the pitching staff and [pitching coach] Jeremy [Hefner].”
Francisco Lindor’s RBI single in the eighth got the Mets an insurance run after Starling Marte stole second base in the inning.
Brandon Nimmo hammered a 2-1 changeup from Wheeler for a two-out homer in the fifth that produced the game’s first run. Zack Wheeler was removed after the homer, finished after 4 ²/₃ innings in which he allowed two hits, hit two batters and walked one. The right-hander threw only 65 pitches.
Wheeler plunked Marte and Pete Alonso in the first inning, giving the Mets seven hit batters in six games, which leads the major leagues. A walk to Eduardo Escobar loaded the bases, but Robinson Cano struck out to end the threat.
