Tylor Megill roughed up as Mets losing streak hits 7 with 14-7 loss to the Pirates – The Mercury News

PITTSBURGH — Against one of the most beautiful backdrops in baseball, the Mets played one of the ugliest games of the season.

One night after dropping a devastating extra-inning contest to the Atlanta Braves, the Mets were battered by the Pittsburgh Pirates. The losing streak extended to seven games in a 14-7 loss at PNC Park in the series opener. There were bad fundamentals, misplays, miscues and everything in between.

The Mets rallied to score five in the ninth off Rob Zastryzny and closer David Bednar. The fight was there, but the execution wasn’t.

Tylor Megill was shelled for the third time in four starts, but the defense behind him didn’t exactly help the situation. After taking a 1-0 lead in the top of the second inning, the Mets (30-34) went down 2-0 when a ground-rule double by light-hitting catcher Austin Hedges scored two. Hedges flared one down the right field line and Starling Marte misjudged how close to the wall the ball was. The catch probability was 50% and Marte didn’t come very close to grabbing it.

But that one play didn’t doom the Mets. They made two errors in the second, contributing to the Pirates’ five-run outburst. There was one by Francisco Lindor that put two on with none out and another by Eduardo Escobar that allowed two more to score.

With runners on the corners, Ji Hwan Bae laid down a bunt and Escobar fielded it but overthrew Mark Canha at first by about a mile, allowing both runs to cross the plate and Bae to reach third. A base hit by Josh Palacios scored him easily.

Megill exited with two outs in the third to end his outing at 3 2/3. Zach Muckenhirn, who was called up to replace Stephen Nogosek on the roster earlier in the day, couldn’t stop the bleeding. Pitching in only his third big league game, he allowed two inherited runners to score and gave up three of his own on five hits over 2 1/3 innings. The Mets badly needed him to chew a few and he did. In doing so, he spelled a bullpen that had only a few available arms. Tommy Hunter threw two innings, giving up back-to-back home runs in the eighth to Carlos Santana and Jake Suwinski.

Megill (5-4) was charged with nine runs, but only seven were earned, on eight hits and three walks. He struck out only one and he now has a 5.14 ERA.

Meanwhile, left-hander Rich Hill (6-5), who pitched in 13 games for the Mets in 2021, limited his one-time former team to only two earned runs. Mark Vientos had an RBI single in the second inning to open the scoring. Francisco Lindor hit his 12th home run of the season in the third to briefly tie the game at 2-2.

The 43-year-old Hill threw 119 pitches over seven innings, walking two and striking out six for Pittsburgh (33-29).

It was exactly the kind of start the Mets needed.

()