Tylor Megill had allowed just one hit – a solo home run – and had retired 13 of the last 14 batters he faced when it came to the bottom half of the seventh inning. And the Mets’ right-hander was pitching with a 7-1 lead, thanks to a five-run inning his offense gave him before he had to throw a pitch on Sunday afternoon.
“He was pretty dominant today,” manager Carlos Mendoza said of the starter who struck out nine Nats in 6.1 innings.
But by the early evening, he was left reflecting on a no-decision after the Nationals put together a five-run seventh and scored two more in the ninth to doom the visitors to an 8-7 loss after a second blown save of the series.
“Attacked the strike zone, got ahead of a lot of hitters, and everything else followed,” a subdued Megill said of his 105-pitch outing (a career high) that saw him throw 75 strikes.
The manager heaped praise on the starter: “He was electric, attacking, everything was in the strike zone, all of his pitches – live on his fastball, the secondary pitches – the way that he mix. He was dominant. He was pretty unbelievable.”
“Everything was working really well today,” Megill said after getting 13 whiffs and 26 called strikes (13 on his four-seam fastball) while allowing just three runs on three hits and a walk.
But the bullpen couldn’t preserve the lead, allowing an inherited runner of Megill’s to score and five of their own in the loss.
“Tough one there,” Mendoza said. “Let that one get away, especially after that outing from Megill. Lotta good things offensively early in the game and then for us to be there, 7-1 in the seventh, and let that one go away. That’s a tough one.”
“Got to turn the page and get ready for tomorrow.”
Juan Soto fought the sun and the sun won
It was a near-cloudless sky in Washington, apt for the day called Sunday, and the wind was swirling at times. And at the start of the bottom of the seventh, a pop fly to shallow right went for a double to end Megill’s run of 10 straight nationals retired when Juan Soto failed to see the ball.
Mendoza said that “you could tell right away” that Soto didn’t see it off the bat.“As soon as that ball went up, he had no idea where the ball was. It was a tough play there.”
“That one just got me,” Soto said.
“It was a tough ball, it just got in the sun,” he added. “Every time I take a step forward, it was getting in and out of the sun, pretty hard fly ball.”
Soto wasn’t the only victim of the sun and wind. Earlier in the game, Nationals first baseman Nathaniel Lowe had a foul pop-up hit the turf on a ball he seemed to have trouble tracking. And a fly down the right-field line foul found the ground as it blew away from Alex Call.
“You saw pretty much everyone fighting out there,” Mendoza said about the sun.
And while both those instances helped the Mets, including in the five-run first, the late-inning double snowballed to take the game away.
Ninth inning pinch-hit decision
With Soto on third and Pete Alonso on second and one out in the ninth, Mendoza had a decision to make: pinch-hit Jesse Winker or let Starling Marte bat?
Mendoza, who had Winker standing next to him with his elbow guard and batting gloves on in the dugout, allowed Marte to face Washington right-hander Jackson Rutledge.
“It was a pretty even matchup there,” Mendoza said. “I trust Marte in that situation to get the job done, it just didn’t happen this time.”
With the infield drawn in, Rutledge got the veteran to ground a ball right at shortstop CJ Abrams for the second out of a scoreless inning.
Mendoza said that with the cutter being an “effective pitch” for the righty, he decided not to go with Winker.
“When you look at the matchup, it was pretty close,” he said. “Even though it was right-on-right, the cutter I think is a pitch now that is giving Winker some trouble and I stick with Marte there.”
No update on A.J. Minter’s MRI
A.J. Minter was placed on the 15-day Injured List ahead of Sunday’s game, but Mendoza did not have any information on the results of an MRI the left-hander underwent after he exited Saturday’s game with an injury.
“We’re waiting for the doctor to read it,” the manager said, indicating an update will come on Monday.
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