Megill gives up 3 HRs, Mets get 4 hits in loss to Atlanta

Tylor Megill’s last chance to stay in the major leagues began Saturday in the Mets’ 4-0 loss to Atlanta.

His luck will last until… well, that part remains to be decided.

Unless they acquire a starting pitcher — or maybe even if they acquire a starting pitcher — the Mets plan to give Megill more time in the rotation, this time with a new reason to believe it will work.

Called in to replace Christian Scott, who was out with a sprained right elbow, Megill (2-5) returned to the lineup with an average performance: six-plus innings, five hits, four runs. Three of those runs came on solo home runs by Marcell Ozuna and Matt Olson (in back-to-back at-bats in the fourth) and Eddie Rosario (in the seventh).

The returns, like the line on the scoresheet, were far from stellar.

“I mean it wasn’t terrible,” Megill said after the Mets snapped a five-game winning streak.

Manager Carlos Mendoza, who pointed to the right-hander’s first three perfect innings, said: “I thought he was fine.”

It was the second-longest of Megill’s nine outings this season. He entered it with a 5.08 ERA, which was bad enough in late June to earn him a demotion to Triple-A Syracuse.

He pitched better there, as expected, but more importantly, he added a new pitch (a sinker) and adopted a new, not-quite-revolutionary mindset (throwing to his strengths). In practice, Megill said, that means not overcomplicating things, relying on his above-average fastball early in the at-bat and switching to a nasty slider that he’s “finally” mastering again.

“I feel like I did that really well today,” Megill said. “Later in the game I was behind with the sinker, but I was able to get back in the count. Overall, I don’t think it was terrible.”

“I got to the seventh inning. I hadn’t been there in a while. Most (of his starts) have been five innings or less. I feel like I did a good job.”

He said he learned to throw the ball from Syracuse pitching coach Grayson Crawford and pitching prospect Mike Vasil. He estimates he threw about 15 of them when he returned, though the pitch is new enough — he had never thrown one before in the major leagues — that MLB’s pitch-tracking technology didn’t pick it up.

“I threw the ball a lot today, running it to righties,” Megill said. “More ground balls, but mostly not allowing righties to get comfortable and lean (to hit a pitch to the outside of the plate) … The sinker evens that out and (forces) them to stay pretty balanced. It opens up the outside half for me.”

Atlanta, meanwhile, turned to rookie right-hander Spencer Schwellenbach to snap a six-game losing streak and return to the top of the National League wild-card standings, ahead of the Mets (55-49).

Schwellenbach (4-5), recalled in May after making just two starts in Double-A, had by far his best major league outing: seven scoreless innings and a career-high 11 strikeouts.

He limited them to two hits, a double by Jeff McNeil in the second and a double by Pete Alonso in the fourth. Schwellenbach responded by retiring the next 10 batters to end his outing.

“It was electric today,” Mendoza said of Schwellenbach, who saw an increase in velocity. “It’s one thing to read the scouting report and come up with a game plan. But when you go out there and see him live, he was probably at his best today.”

Brandon Nimmo said: “We didn’t capitalize on any mistakes he might have made. And then the rest of the game he made some good shots.”

The Mets had four hits, including two singles in the bottom of the ninth that brought the potential tying run to the faceoff circle. But J.D. Martinez and Alonso were struck out by closer Raisel Iglesias to end the game for Atlanta (55-48).

The Mets had a scare — which appeared to be just that — in the bottom of the fourth inning, when Nimmo hit the top of his left knee hard. He could barely walk at first and appeared to be in a lot of pain, but he stayed in the game.

“I had a dead leg,” Nimmo said. “Kind of like when you hit your arm and you can’t move it for a while. It locked on me. It just took me a few minutes to get myself together and be able to move it.”