The New York Mets squared off against the New York Yankees at First Bank Field in Port St. Lucie, FL. today, losing the game 11-4. Zack Wheeler made his second start of the spring, trying to secure a spot in the Mets’ Opening Day rotation and, by all accounts, made considerable progress.

Pitching

In the first inning, Wheeler struck out Brandon Drury on a 95 MPH fastball that sat down around Drury’s knees, then got Tyler Austin looking on an 87 MPH changeup.

In the second, the Mets’ 27-year-old hurler began by getting Danny Espinosa to line out to shortstop. Austin Romine followed him up by smoking a liner just past Reyes.

After getting Ronald Torreyes to fly-out to Jay Bruce after a couple of hard-hit foul balls, Shane Robinson got a base hit to put runners on 2nd and 3rd with two outs. After being a victim of a tight strike zone for the third time in two innings courtesy of home plate umpire Chris Conroy, Wheeler set down Estevan Florial looking at a 94 MPH fastball on the outside paint.

Brett Gardner led off the top of the third with an infield hit but Wheeler was able to induce a 6-4-3 double play out of Drury and struck out Miguel Andujar to finish his day (3 IP, 3 H, 4 K).

 

Robert Gsellman began the fourth for the Mets and immediately gave up a single to Tyler Austin. He got Danny Espinosa to line out but then Austin Romine followed him with another single. d’Arnaud had a tough time handling a low pitch and Austin moved up to third, putting Yankees on first and third with one out.

Frazier almost threw away Torres’ groundball but was able to get Romine at second, though Austin came in to score on the play, cutting the Yanks deficit to 2-1. After Torres stole second, Shane Robinson grounded out to Asdrubal Cabrera to end the inning.

Gsellman induced two fly-ball outs to center fielder Juan Lagares and a 4-3 put out in the fifth, with a walk to Brett Gardner sandwiched in-between. He began the sixth and got Austin and Espinosa to both ground-out and got Romine to line out to third. Beginning his fourth inning of work, Gsellman allowed a leadoff baserunner on a Phillip Evans error but erased him with a 4-6-3 double-play to end his day after 3.2 IP, giving up 2 H, 1 ER, and 1 BB.

Left-hander Matt Purke came on to relieve Gsellman with two outs in the seventh and gave up a base hit through the shift to Estevan Florial. Tyler Wade followed that up with a base hit to right and Purke quickly found himself in a jam. A wild pitch in the dirt moved the runners up to second and third, respectively, then Purke walked Jake Cave to load the bases. After a visit from pitching coach Dave Eiland, Andujar hit a first-pitch, knuckling line drive to left to end the threat.

Rafael Montero came out to pitch the eighth and began by striking out the leadoff batter, but the next two hitters followed up with identical base hits to left field. Kyle Holder then hit a low liner that Ty Kelly was able to knock down but everyone was safe, leaving Montero with the bases loaded and one out.

He walked Trey Amburgey to force in a run and then Ty Kelly was unable to make a clean play on Jeff Hendrix‘ groundball, scoring another and cutting the Mets’ lead to 4-3. By the time all was said and done, Montero was charged with 5 ER and saw his Grapefruit League ERA balloon to 12.46 (2.25 coming into the game).

Corey Taylor came in to clean up Montero’s mess, getting a pop-fly foul ball on his first pitch, but then gave up a grand-slam on a long drive to right by Yankees’ prospect Billy McKinney, giving the Yanks a 7-4 lead. Jorge Saez followed up that with a single to right, and then Taylor got Jake Cave on a called third strike to end the inning.

Kevin McGowan got the call in the ninth, looking to improve on his 30.86 Spring Training ERA, but his struggles continued. He gave up a leadoff single to Abiatal Avelino and a ground-rule double to Kyle Higashioka, both their second hits of the day, then a Jonathan Holder bloop hit to shallow center scored Avelino.

Trey Amburgey then crushed a ball to right-center, with the wind, to give the Yankees an 11-4 lead. McGowan was able to finish off the inning, getting Jeff Hendrix swinging on a breaking ball and inducing a fly-ball to right with a runner on first.

Offense

Yankees’ prospect Domingo German started the game, breezing through the first two innings unscathed.

In the third, Travis d’Arnaud led off the inning with a walk. Juan Lagares and Matt den Dekker followed up with consecutive strikeouts, then Asdrubal Cabrera hit a line-drive into centerfield for a base hit. Cespedes walked to load the bases and Jay Bruce hit a shallow pop fly that was misplayed by Florial to bring in the first two runs of the game.

Travis d’Arnaud hit a solo home run in the fourth inning, his first of the spring, to give the Mets a 3-1 lead.

Adrian Gonzalez went the other way for a base hit to lead off the sixth after grounding out into the shift and striking out in his first two at-bats. After a forceout at second, d’Arnaud hit a soft grounder that the pitcher, Dillon Tate, threw away at first, moving pinch-runner Phillip Evans from first to third. With one out Lagares ran out what looked like a double-play ball to score Evans from third, extending the Mets lead to 4-1.

Kevin Kaczmarski had a base hit to left-center in the ninth, his second of the spring.

On Deck

The New York Mets travel to West Palm Beach tomorrow to take on the Washington Nationals at The Ballpark of the Palm Beaches. Noah Syndergaard will take the mound for the Mets against Stephen Strasburg. The game starts at 1:05 and will not be televised in NY.