Edwin Diaz returns to mound, Tylor Megill strong again in Mets' loss to Marlins
The Mets were defeated by the Miami Marlins 1-0 on Monday night at Clover Park.
Here are some takeaways...
- Tylor Megill continued taking advantage of his opportunity, as he posted his fourth consecutive strong outing this spring. Sweet-swinging lefty Luis Arraez led off the game with a double, but the righty did well to strand him there and get out of the inning unscathed.
Tim Anderson cranked a solo shot leading off the second, but Megill settled back after that, and Francisco Alvarez's fourth caught stealing of the spring helped him through his second inning of work. The righty followed that up with back-to-back scoreless innings to end his night on a strong note.
Megill allowed just the one run on three hits while striking out two. The 28-year-old appears to be a lock for the fifth starter spot in place of ace Kodai Senga after posting a 1.50 ERA over his first four starts of the spring.
- Edwin Diaz then entered to 'Narco' as he made his highly-anticipated return to the big-league mound and he didn't skip a beat. The star closer was dominant as ever as he struck out Jesus Sanchez, Avisail Garcia, and Jon Berti en route to a 13-pitch inning. As has been the case in his backfield sessions, his fastball was sitting 97-98 MPH on the gun and his slider looked as sharp as ever.
Brooks Raley and Drew Smith followed Diaz's dominant outing up with a scoreless inning of their own.
- Michael Tonkin, a potential bulk arm added this offseason, ran into trouble after allowing a single and walk in the eighth but was able to dance out of danger with a pair of strikeouts. The right-hander is yet to allow a run through three appearances this spring.
- The Mets' offense was relatively quiet in this one, but Harrison Bader recorded his first hit of the spring and Brett Baty reached base for the fourth time in his last five games.
Highlights
Upcoming schedule
The Mets hit the road to take on the Washington Nationals on Tuesday night at 6:05 p.m.
LHP Jose Quintana takes the ball for New York looking to build off a strong showing in his second outing of the spring.
