Mets’ bats can’t make up for Tylor Megill’s shaky outing in loss to Rockies

With the Mets trailing the Colorado Rockies 3-2 in the sixth inning, Stephen Nogosek issued a leadoff walk to Colorado Rockies second baseman Harold Castro. As Ezequiel Tovar stepped up to the plate, radio play-by-play announcer Howie Rose mentioned that the Mets had issued more walks than any other team in baseball this season and had given up more home runs.

As if on cue, Tovar took Nogosek deep for a two-run homer that put the Rockies up 5-2. The Colorado bullpen made it stand up and the Mets lost their 10th game in their last 13 tries Saturday afternoon at Citi Field.

The Mets (17-17) are in the midst of a tough stretch. The starting pitchers aren’t going deep into games and the bullpen is shouldering the load. The offense has been ice-cold. The Mets remain confident that they will get out of this slump, but a fanbase that often expects disaster is getting restless.

“Guys are pushing, sometimes to a fault,” manager Buck Showalter said. “When you want something too much, it’s tough.”

Tylor Megill (3-2) had an inefficient outing, taking the loss after giving up three earned runs on six hits, walking three and striking out four.

“He kept us in the game and didn’t implode,” Showalter said.

In the first inning, a leadoff walk came back to haunt him when Elias Diaz hit a two-out single to center field. Tovar hit his first of two home runs with one out in the second to make it 2-1 but in the fifth another walk proved costly.

Megill walked Randal Grichuk and Kris Bryant. The big righty then struck out C.J. Cron, but Diaz once again sent up a single to center, this time scoring Grichuk this time to put the Rockies (13-21) up 3-2.

“I didn’t really have my stuff today,” Megill said. “I was just trying to grind through it and whatnot. I hung a slider there in the fifth and gave up a hit for the third run.”

Megill couldn’t find his command in the first inning and never really found it. He liked the feel of his changeup, but he was unable to effectively utilize his slider or his fastball the way he wanted to.

“I know [command] is part of it because we’ve seen him pitch better a lot,” Showalter said. “But I like the fact that in a day he wasn’t commanding the baseball, he kept us at 3-2.”

Megill exited and Nogosek then came in and retired Ryan MacMahon to end the inning.

The Mets strung together two runs, with one coming in the bottom of the first inning and another in the bottom of the third. Both came off left-hander Austin Gomber, who came into the game with an ERA of 7.57 and left with it lowered by nearly a point (6.75). Gomber (3-4) limited the Mets to two runs on five hits, walked two and struck out three.

The Mets barely threatened. They had only five runners in scoring position and went 0-for-5, stranding six runners total.

“When we’re at our best, we’re kind of passing the baton and grinding at-bats and making them work for everything,” Showalter said. “We’ve had some innings where their pitcher didn’t have to be extended much and was able to pitch without having to show all of his pitches early and then as the game wore on he could break into his secondary pitches. We just haven’t seen the same challenge for pitchers as we normally do.”

Passing the baton has been a mantra of sorts for a Mets offense that is reliant on continuing the chain. But the Mets are struggling to put the offensive game and the pitching game together at the same time.

“This is a team and we’re all going to go through tough times,” said shortstop Francisco Lindor. “But we have to stick together.”

The bullpen pitched well enough to keep the Mets in the game, with Nogosek going another full inning after the sixth and striking out the side, newcomer Dominic Leone getting out of a jam with runners on the corners in the eighth and Jeff Brigham working around a leadoff single in the top of the ninth.

By the end of the game, the updated totals read 81 walks issued this season and 35 home runs, both of which continue to lead the league. The series is 1-1 and will conclude tomorrow afternoon at Citi Field.