Mets' Tylor Megill goes on the IL with elbow injury

ATLANTA — For months, the Mets were an object lesson on the importance of pitching depth. They lost Sean Manaea and Frankie Montas before the season began, along with a number of key bullpen arms, and still, they thrived.

Now, with this latest blow, they’ll have to see if they can survive.

Days after losing Kodai Senga to a hamstring strain, the Mets placed Tylor Megill on the 15-day injured list with what the Mets are terming a right elbow sprain - the result of inflammation around the joint, Megill said (a sprain is a wrenching of the ligaments, but Megill said an MRI revealed no structural damage to his UCL). Like Senga, the news could have been worse: the plan is to shut down for seven to 10 days and then re-evaluate. That puts the best-case scenario for a return at four to five weeks, manager Carlos Mendoza said. Senga is on a similar timeline.

The team will use a spot starter Friday in Philadelphia, and Paul Blackburn, who returned from the IL two weeks ago but was earmarked for long-relief duty until the Senga injury, will be slotted into the rotation until further notice.

Megill said he noticed something was off during his last start against the Rays, when he allowed six runs, three earned, in 3  2⁄3 innings with two walks, five strikeouts and two hit batsmen.

“During the game, I just felt some pulling on my elbow, mainly on sliders, changeups . . . offspeed stuff,” he said. “That’s kind of why I had no idea where my sliders were going during the game. I hit two people. I spiked one 50 feet . . . It’s structurally fine, just a lot of inflammation surrounding the elbow, all the ligaments and tendons, which is really aggravating it.”

Despite coming into Tuesday leading the majors in ERA (2.97) and rotational ERA (2.93), the Mets are in a decidedly precarious situation.

Frankie Montas, who’s slated to throw his final rehab appearance Wednesday, has struggled, pitching to a 13.17 ERA over five minor-league starts — a span of 13  2⁄3 innings where he’s allowed 20 earned runs, including seven homers. Montas said last week that he was struggling with mechanical issues, including getting his arm slot right.

His rehab clock expires on June 22, and Mendoza previously said that the Mets would at least consider using him out of the bullpen. That’s not completely off the table, despite the Megill news.

“Let’s see how he goes tomorrow,” Mendoza said. “Hopefully gets through tomorrow with some good results, he bounces back and he’s part of the rotation. That would be the ideal scenario.

“I watched his last bullpen at Citi Field and he felt really good, so [pitching coach Jeremy Hefner] continues to work with him. He liked what he saw mechanically from him even though the results weren’t there the last time he pitched.”

The questions, though, don’t end there.

Manaea (oblique) is slated to throw another rehab start with Triple-A Syracuse Friday but struggled in his third rehab start with High-A Brooklyn earlier this week, allowing four runs on five hits and two walks over 2  1⁄3 innings.

Clay Holmes, who was limited to 79 pitches this weekend after experiencing altitude-related fatigue from throwing at Coors Field on June 7, is up to 78  1⁄3 innings — the most he’s thrown since 2018, when the former closer was a starter in the Pirates organization. After a strong start, Griffin Canning has a 6.75 ERA in his last five games.

The Met kicked off a run of 13 straight games Tuesday, most against division rivals: They have three here in Atlanta, three in Philadelphia, and another four against Atlanta in Flushing before traveling to Pittsburgh for the last three.

They also can’t rush Megill back. He’s never had elbow issues, he said, and they can’t risk causing damage to his UCL.

“It just randomly popped up,” he said. “It really affected my stuff. I’m glad to know what it was. It’s not too bad news considering elbow things, [so I] just [have to] take time and be healthy . . . I’m not going to push it and try to rush to get back. Obviously, I want to get back out on the mound throwing, but it would be dumb to rush it and then end up [with] something further down the line.”

Notes and quotes: Mark Vientos (hamstring) began his rehab assignment with Triple-A Syracuse Tuesday; he was the DH and batted third . . . Brett Baty, who exited Sunday’s loss to the Rays with a groin injury, was out of the starting lineup Tuesday but fielded groundballs pregame. “He’s feeling a little bit better today,” Mendoza said . . . MLB released its first All-Star ballot update Monday and Francisco Lindor, the four-time All Star who’s never been selected in his four-plus seasons as a Met, leads all shortstops with 1,019,273 votes — over 400,000 more than second-place Mookie Betts. Pete Alonso was second behind Freddie Freeman, 1,136,389-895,900. Juan Soto was fourth among outfielders, about 60,000 votes behind Teoscar Hernandez.