Zack Wheeler faced off against the Baltimore Orioles on Monday afternoon in what was his final start of the spring. Unfortunately, he did not fair as well as he probably would’ve hoped.

Wheeler only lasted three innings and surrendered five runs on five hits, including three home runs. He also walked two and struck out three. The majority of the damage suffered by Wheeler in his start occurred in his first inning of work allowing four runs on four hits.

After striking out the first batter he faced, Dwight Smith would hit a solo homer run. Trey Mancini would then single and be driven in on an RBI double by Rio Ruiz. Next up, Chris Davis sent a two-run blast into left centerfield for the second homer of the inning, which made the score 4-0.

The soon to be 29-year-old pitcher would bounce back in the 2nd by getting Pedro Severino to pop out to third. After walking the next batter he was then able to induce Cedric Mullins to ground into a 6-4-3 inning ending double play.

In his final inning of work, Dwight Smith would lead off by taking Wheeler deep for his second homer of the day. After getting the next two batters to strike out and ground out, he would issue his second walk of the afternoon to Rio Ruiz. Mets catcher Wilson Ramos would end Wheeler’s inning and day by picking Ruiz off of first base.

Despite this rough outing, Wheeler owned a 2.25 ERA this spring heading into today. He would ultimately finish with a 4.80 ERA with eleven strikeouts, and four walks over 15 innings pitched.

While today was certainly not the ideal final start before the regular season,  Zack still had a strong spring and seems ready to go and primed for another big season. He also made it through spring training fully healthy, which is a major positive.

In his first full season in the big leagues since 2014, Zack posted a 12-7 record with a 3.31 ERA, 3.25 FIP, and 1.124 WHIP to go along with 179 strikeouts in 182 innings.

The Mets will be counting on Wheeler heavily this upcoming season after his breakout 2018 campaign. If the team is destined to make a run in 2019, how far they go will most likely fall upon their starting rotation and Wheeler could once again be the “X-factor” of the bunch.