It took a long time to wait, even though the Mets emerged as one of the best youth baseball rotations. Throughout the league, 39 non-hitters took place after that of Santana, including attempts by 18 different teams. But just one cold night at Citi Field on Friday, the Mets added another of their own. Tylor Megill made the first five innings, before Drew Smith, Joely Rodríguez, Seth Lugo and Edwin Díaz combined in the last 12 outs to complete their historic 3-0 win over the Phillies. The necessary offense came in the form of a Jeff McNeil single of two series in the fifth and a Pete Alonso solo homer in the sixth, both by Aaron Nola. Although Megill had few problems in the first innings, his speed was slow and he found it difficult to remove the batters, resulting in high pitch counts despite the lack of hits. The right-hander made one stroke in the second inning and two more in the fifth, which ended in 88 pitches. At that point, manager Buck Swalter fired him in favor of Smith, who hit four of the five hits he faced. Rodríguez came on, walking the first shot he faced, but quickly causing a double play at the end. He and Lugo combined in the eighth without hitting, before Diaz completed the effort in the ninth. This allowed the Mets not only to complete the 17th combined unbeaten streak in AL / NL history, but also to win a key division game against the Phillies.
