Jim Rassol-USA TODAY Sports

The Mets looked to get back to their winning ways on Wednesday when they took on the Miami Marlins at Roger Dean Chevrolet Stadium in Jupiter, Florida. Tylor Megill made his first start of the spring against reigning NL Cy Young Award winner Sandy Alcantara. The Mets picked up an 8-4 win thanks to home runs by Francisco Lindor, Pete Alonso and Ronny Mauricio.

After a scoreless top half of the inning from Alcantara, Megill took the mound against a Marlins lineup that could very well be their Opening Day lineup. The 6-foot right-hander made quick work of the top of the Miami lineup, retiring Luis Arraez, Bryan De La Cruz and Jazz Chisholm Jr. on weak hit balls on the infield. His fastball topped out at 94 mph, and he threw three curveballs — a pitch he has said he is focusing on this spring.

The Marlins opened the scoring in the second inning. Jean Segura, the newest member of the Marlins, kicked off the inning with a seeing-eye single up the middle off Megill. Megill continued to allow soft contact which allowed Segura to advance to second base on a groundout. With two outs, Met-killer Jon Berti laced a first-pitch slider the other way for an RBI single.

With Alcantara done for the day, the Mets answered back against Dylan Floro in the third inning. Tim Locastro, who is in the running to earn a spot on the Mets bench, was hit by a pitch to lead off the inning. Despite only having 475 career at-bats, he has been plunked 37 times in his career, which fits right in on the Mets. Locastro followed with his third stolen base this spring. With Locastro at third and two outs, Lindor hit a no-doubt home run to right field to put the Mets ahead 2-1.

The Mets turned to Brooks Raley for the third inning, and the he was burned by three soft hits. The left-handed reliever allowed three hits on ground balls that were not well struck. The xBA on the hits were .160, .130 and .200. Despite the soft contact, the three hits were enough to even the score for Miami at 2-2. Raley was able to prevent a big inning thanks to a double play on a come-backer from Segura to retire the side.

After scoring twice in the third, the Mets tacked on two more in the fourth. After hits from Abraham Almonte and Tomás Nido and a walk from Francisco Álvarez, Locastro came through with a two-run double with the bases loaded to put the Mets back in front 4-2.

Stephen Nogosek pitched a scoreless fourth inning before the Mets’ bats added on in the top of the fifth. After Lindor nearly hit his second home run of the day on a fly out to deep right field, Pete Alonso launched his second homer of the spring to put the Mets up 5-2.

In the fifth, the Mets turned to Zach Muckenhirn. He allowed an unearned run in his inning of work due to an error by Brett Baty to start the inning, but he  rebounded to retire the top of the Marlins’ lineup in order with a strikeout of Jazz Chisholm Jr. to prevent a big inning.

Sam Coonrod and Jimmy Yacabonis pitched the sixth and seventh for the Mets. Both pitchers made quick work of the Marlins, retiring the side in order while striking out two batters each.

With nearly all of the Mets’ starters done for the day, the bench bats came through in the eighth to extend the lead to 6-3. With two outs, Alex Ramirez singled for his third hit in eight spring at-bats (.375 average) before Michael Perez doubled to drive in the 20-year-old outfielder.

After three straight hitless innings from Mets relievers, Josh Walker ran into some trouble in the eighth. He allowed a single, two walks and a sacrifice fly to cut the lead to 6-4, but he was able to get out of the inning with the lead in-tact after a double-play ball got him out of the jam.

In the ninth, Ronny Mauricio pinch-hit with a runner on first. For the third time in just seven at-bats, the shortstop launched a long bomb to give the Mets an 8-4 lead.

Grant Hartwig entered in the ninth to close out the game for Mets. He retired all three batters he faced with one strikeout to secure the 8-4 win for New York.

Player of the Game: Ronny Mauricio

Maurcio has been as hot as any hitter in baseball in 2023. After winning league MVP in the Dominican Winter League, Mauricio has been putting on a Pete Alonso-like power display in Spring Training. Today’s home run traveled 413 feet and had an exit velocity of 105.6 mph.

Buck Showalter made it clear that Mauricio won’t be the Mets’ cleanup hitter on Opening Day, but he still praised the hot start.

“He’s like a lot of our young players,” Showalter said following the win. “They’re off to a good start in the spring. I’m proud of him.”

Mauricio is expected to start 2023 in Triple-A Syracuse after spending all of 2022 with Double-A Binghamton, but he is certainly trying to force the Mets’ hand with his 2.214 OPS.

On Deck

The Mets will take on the Atlanta Braves on Thursday at 1:10 p.m. ET at Clover Park in Port St. Lucie. Carlos Carrasco will be making his spring debut, and the game will be broadcast on SNY.