Megill dominates with 8 K's before faulty 5th inning

NEW YORK -- Right-hander Tylor Megill was dealing during the first four innings of Tuesday’s game against the Marlins at Citi Field. But difficulties in the fifth proved costly as the Mets lost, 4-2.

The way the game was going, it looked like Megill was going to have a start for the ages. After four innings, Megill was dominating, holding a 2-1 lead on just 60 pitches. He had eight strikeouts already, and it looked like he was going to surpass his season high of nine K's.

“I was getting ahead of the hitters,” Megill said. “I had the cutter doing really well. All of my pitches were working well.”

Even Marlins manager Skip Schumaker was impressed by what he saw from Megill early in the game.

“Man, he was good,” Schumaker said. “[He] had his fastball at the top going. We couldn't really get to it. The split finger was giving us trouble as well on both sides [of the plate]. He had his slider working. …”

However, Megill threw 27 pitches in the fifth and couldn’t complete the inning. By the time the frame ended, Miami took a one-run lead.

The Marlins had runners on first and second and one out when Bryan De La Cruz doubled to left-center field, scoring Tim Anderson and putting runners on second and third. It looked like Mets center fielder Harrison Bader had a chance to catch the ball. But Bader and left fielder Brandon Nimmo were on a collision course. Instead, the ball bounced between them.

Megill was able to get the second out of the inning by inducing Josh Bell to fly out to Nimmo. Jake Burger followed and hit a line shot that third baseman Mark Vientos backhanded. Vientos had plenty of time to throw out Burger, but Vientos rushed the throw as the ball went wide right of first baseman Pete Alonso, putting Burger on base and allowing Jazz Chisholm Jr. to score the go-ahead run. Vientos was charged with an error on the play.

“It was one hell of a stop [by Vientos]," Mets manager Carlos Mendoza said. "If the ball gets by him, it’s two runs. He probably rushed it a little bit.”

It’s not surprising the Mets are having problems on defense. The Mets have 44 errors, the fourth-most in the Major Leagues. When it comes to defensive runs saved, New York has a minus-6 outs above average as a team this season, tied with Boston for 21st in the Major Leagues.

“We have some good defenders here. But it feels like every time we make an error, [the opposing team] makes us pay,” Mendoza said. “It’s hard when you give extra outs, extra bases. We haven’t been able to overcome those issues.”

Megill was taken out of the game in favor of left-hander Danny Young, who stopped the bleeding by striking out Jesús Sánchez to end the threat.

“[Megill] couldn’t put guys away, especially in that fifth inning,” Mendoza said. “Long at-bats. [The Marlins] fouled some pitches off and had deep counts. … That inning got long and he couldn’t finish it.”

After Vientos' two-run double in the second, the Mets couldn’t get any more runs off Marlins left-hander Jesús Luzardo, who picked up his third victory of the season.