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TORONTO — The Mets won an ugly game with two runs in one sloppy inning, but no matter how it comes, they’ll take the win.
Tylor Megill shut the Toronto Blue Jays out over six innings and the Mets scored twice in the top of the eighth, right after giving up a lead. They won, 3-2, on Monday night at Rogers Centre. And with an Atlanta Braves loss, the Amazins’ have moved ahead of their NL East foes in the Wild Card race, taking sole possession of third place.
There was little breathing room for either team. Toronto used its bullpen to cover all nine innings, with left-hander Ryan Yarbrough working 3 2/3 of them. The Mets planned for this, using a lineup they thought would do damage against lefties. But with the Blue Jays changing pitchers every few innings in the early part of the game, the hitters didn’t have a lot of time to adjust.
Yarbrough gave up the Mets’ first run in the fourth when he hit Pete Alonso with a pitch and walked Jose Iglesias to put two on with one out. J.D. Martinez pulled a single down the right side to score Alonso.
The Mets had the 1-0 edge until the bottom of the seventh when their own bullpen coughed up two runs. Left-hander Danny Young gave up a walk and a single to put two on and right-hander Jose Butto took over from there.
Butto’s command wavered. He gave up a pinch-hit single to Ernie Clement to load the bases and Leo Jimenez with a pitch to bring in the tying run. A fly ball to left field by Nathan Lukes scored the go-ahead run, with Brandon Nimmo’s throw coming home about a second too late.
But the Mets capitalized on Toronto’s mistakes in the next frame, coming back to tie the game on a wild pitch, then going ahead, 3-2, on a passed ball from Tommy Nance.
Those were preceded by a walk, an infield hit with an overthrown base and another walk to load the bases.
Right-handers Ryne Stanek and Edwin Diaz turned in huge innings for the Mets, with Stanek striking out the side in the eighth to hold the lead, and Diaz converting the save (17).
Megill pitched in place of Paul Blackburn, turning in quite possibly one of the best starts of his career. The Jays managed only one hit off the big right-hander, a double in the first inning by Spencer Horwitz.
That double was in between walks by Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and Will Wagner. But with the bases loaded and two out, Megill got out of a jam by inducing a ground ball to Alejandro Kirk. Kirk made weak contact and Megill easily fielded the slow roller, lobbing to Alonso at first for the out.
Megill then retired the next 12 in order. He struck out the side in the fifth and needed only 12 pitches to get through the sixth. In total, he walked two and struck out nine to match his season-high mark.
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