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’ (78-65) moved ahead of their NL East foes in the Wild Card race, taking sole possession of third place.
“I just wanted to go out and compete and give us the best chance to win tonight,” Megill said. “I threw the ball great tonight. It felt good. Everything was working.”
The right-hander was only given a day’s notice that he would be starting. As recently as Saturday, he had been told he would be pitching out of the bullpen with Paul Blackburn nearly ready to come off the injured list. But then Blackburn’s back tightened up on him and the Mets went back to Megill.
He didn’t even get the chance to throw a bullpen last week, but still managed to deliver one of his best and most important performances of the season.
“I thought the fastball was really good. He stayed on the attack,” Mendoza said. “The two-seam and the four-seam were the main pitches there too.”
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, hitters didn’t have a lot of time to adjust.
“As far as game-planning and all of that goes, I thought we did a really good job,” Mendoza said. “Overall, the days that we have to face those bullpen games, our preparation never changes. We chased a little bit here today.”
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.
Mendoza thought about sending Megill back out to start the seventh, but ultimately decided against it with two left-handers leading off the inning and two more toward the bottom of the order.
“Once he got through the sixth with the lefties coming up, he was at [88] pitches,” Mendoza said. “I think it’s just one of those where, if he goes back out, I was going to be very aggressive with him, so I just decided to go with the clean inning with the bullpen. I had the matches. We wanted it. We just got in trouble there.
“But overall, guys that came in after and they did their part.”
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 (0-1). Eddy Alvarez scored the winning run as a pinch-runner in his Mets debut.
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 (7-3) striking out the side in the eighth to hold the lead, and Diaz converting the save (17).
The Jays (68-77) managed only one hit off Megill, 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.
“I thought after that first inning where the bases were loaded, he kept making pitches,” Mendoza said. “He got the ground ball, got out of it. After that, he was in complete control of the game.”
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.
“It goes to show you that everybody — all 28 guys and the guys who will continue to come through to the clubhouse — will find a way,” Mendoza said. “I thought today was a good team win. When it was hard for us, we found a way.”
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