The New York Mets bats came alive on Thursday afternoon in an 11-6 thumping of the Miami Marlins at First Data Field.
Yoenis Cespedes got the Mets on the board with a solo home run that went over the batter’s eye in center field to being the fourth inning. Two batters later, Neil Walker hit a two-run homer for his first of the spring.
In the fifth inning Wilmer Flores extended the Mets lead to 5-0 with an RBI single. Later in the inning, Phillip Evans came in as a pinch hitter and hit a grand slam. Evans also homered on Wednesday to the Mets lone run.
The Mets tacked on two more runs in the seventh inning on a run scoring double by Matt Reynolds and an RBI single by Evans.
Travis d’Arnaud continued his great spring with a 2 for 3 game. Brandon Nimmo went 3 for 3 with a run scored and Walker had two hits.
Robert Gsellman got the start in his first spring appearance of the season and looked sharp in two scoreless innings with two strikeouts. Addison Reed and Jeurys Familia followed with a scoreless inning apiece. Erik Goeddel threw a scoreless inning with two strikeouts in his spring debut.
Left-handed pitching prospect David Roseboom had a outing in which he allowed five runs on six hits over 1.1 innings. Hansel Robles closed out the game 1.2 scoreless innings with three strikeouts, but he did allow two inherited runners to score.
The highlight of the day came when infield prospect Luis Guillorme unbelievably caught a thrown bat with one hand in the dugout saving a few of his teammates.
On Deck –
The Mets take on the Houston Astros at First Data Field on Friday with Noah Syndergaard making his first start of the spring. He will be opposed by Charlie Morton for the Astros. Also expected to pitch for the Mets are RHP Chris Flexen, LHP Josh Smoker and LHP Adam Wilk.
