Ed Delany, MMO

The New York Mets visited The Ballpark of the Palm Beaches in West Palm Beach today to take on Stephen Strasburg and the Washington Nationals. The Mets lost the game 8-5.

Noah Syndergaard made his third start of the spring and shined. The 25-year-old was said to have dialed back his velocity, with his fastball sitting around 94-98 but getting as high as 101 MPH.

Pitching

Syndergaard began his day cleanly, getting Brian Goodwin to fly out to center and Trea Turner to ground out to David Thompson, who got the start at third today.

Bryce Harper and his .921 Grapefruit League OPS were up next and the 25-year-old hit a sharp line drive to left for a base hit. Harper then stole second, with Anthony Rendon at the plate.  Syndergaard then walked Rendon, putting men on first and second with two out before getting Matt Adams to ground out to first to end the inning.

The Mets’ hulking 25-year-old began his second inning of work by giving up a groundball single to Howie Kendrick. He then walked the Nats’ veteran back-up backstop, Miguel Montero, putting met on first and second with no outs.

Syndergaard then proceeded to strike out first baseman Jose Marmolejos, left-fielder Moises Sierra (.429, 1 HR this spring), and center fielder Brian Goodwin, all on swinging-third strikes, to get out of the jam.

Thor breezed through the third, striking out Trea Turner looking, and then got Harper and Rendon, both swinging.

Syndergaard continued mowing down Nationals, striking out Matt Adams to start the fourth before he was pulled. Ending his day with 3.1 IP, 2 hit, 2 walks and seven consecutive strikeouts to end his afternoon and bringing his Grapefruit League ERA down to 1.08,

Jerry Blevins retired two batters including a strikeout and worked around a fielding error by first baseman Adrian Gonzalez.

Jeurys Familia got the call in the fifth and, after retiring Sierra and walking Goodwin, gave up his first earned run of the spring on a Trea Turner double to right field, scoring Goodwin, to cut the Mets’ lead to 3-1. Bryce Harper then singled home Turner, making it a 3-2 game.

Familia got Rendon to fly out to left but then gave up a two-run homer to Matt Adams, giving the Nats a 4-3 lead. He then retired Difo on a pop fly to end the fifth

Familia came back out to start the sixth and immediately gave up a home run to Miguel Montero to give the Nationals a 5-3 lead. He stayed in for one more batter, retiring Jose Marmolejos, to finish his day. (1.1 IP, 4 H, 5 ER, 1 BB).

AJ Ramos came in to relieve Familia with one out in the sixth, getting Moises Sierra to ground out and striking out Victor Robles to end the inning.

Ramos came back out in the bottom of the seventh and got Reid Brignac to pop out, walked Matt Reynolds, gave up a single to Kelvin Gutierrez, then got Ryan Raburn to ground into a 6-4-3 double play to end the inning.

Gerson Bautista came out to pitch the bottom of the eighth and gave up a leadoff single to Wilmer Difo. He then walked Andrew Stevenson and allowed what turned out to be a sacrifice groundout to first, moving the runners up to second and third.

After striking out Chris Dominguez, Bautista gave up a base hit to Victor Robles to score Difo and Stevenson. Robles then stole second but Tomas Nido threw it into center field, allowing him to advance to third. Brignac singled to left later in the at-bat to score Robles, giving Washington an 8-4 lead.

The next batter, Matt Reynolds, shot a grounder into center field and Bautista walked Gutierrez to load the bases for Raburn, who stuck out swinging to end the inning.

Offense

Stephen Strasburg started off his day by walking Jay Bruce and throwing two wild pitches during Yoenis Cespedes‘ at-bat, moving Bruce to third. Though he was able to work around the man on third by putting away Cespedes and Adrian Gonzalez via strikeout.

David Thompson began the third inning with a single off of Strasburg and then stole second with Ty Kelly at the plate. Kelly grounded out to first base, moving Thompson over to third. Brandon Nimmo, after striking out in his first at-bat, then scorched an RBI double to centerfield, giving the Mets a 1-0 lead.

Strasburg struck out Gonzalez to begin the fourth inning, then walked Cabrera. Kevin Plawecki hit a double to left to score Cabrera, stretching the Mets’ lead to 2-0 and ending Strasburg’s day.

Brandon Nimmo got his second extra-base hit of the day on a triple to right off of lefty Enny Romero to lead off the top of the fifth. Jay Bruce followed up with a sacrifice fly to right to score Nimmo from third, extending the Mets’ lead to 3-0.

Yoenis Cespedes then hit a line drive that deflected off of Anthony Rendon’s glove at third for his first hit of the day. Gonzalez followed, drawing a walk, bringing Cabrera to the plate with runners at first and second with one out and he also walked, loading the bases. Kevin Plawecki then hit into a 6-4-3 double-play to end the Mets’ threat.

Adrian Gonzalez singled on a fly ball to center field in the seventh before exiting for a pinch-runner (Peter Alonso).

After Luis Guillorme walked to begin the eighth against Bryan Harper and advanced on a David Thompson groundout, Zach Borenstein singled him home to make it a 5-4 game. Brandon Nimmo also added his third hit of the day, a single to right.

Matt Oberste, in his first ST at-bat, hit a double in the ninth off of Nats’ prospect Jaron Long. Gavin Cecchini also had a base hit in the ninth, singling on a sharp grounder through the left side of the infield. and moving Oberste to third. Long then threw a wild pitch to move Cheech to second.

Then, with two runners on and one out in a four-run game, Tomas Nido grounded out to third to score Oberste and cut the Nats’ lead to 8-5. Long then threw another wild pitch (the Nats’ fourth of the game), moving Cecchini to third with two outs and Luis Guillorme at the plate, who made the last out, ending the game.

On Deck

The New York Mets visit Joker Merchant Stadium in Lakeland tomorrow to take on former Mets’ farmhand Michael Fulmer and the Detroit Tigers at 1:05 PM. Steven Matz will be making his third Grapefruit League start, hoping to improve on his 54.00 spring ERA.  The game will not be televised.