Photo by Ed Delany of MMO

Chris Bassitt made his first spring appearance against another team on Tuesday. The Mets No. 3 starter faced off against the Marlins, going nearly five scoreless innings.

Bassitt started strong, striking out Jon Berti with a devastating slider. He followed it up with a groundout of Brian Anderson and a force out from Jesus Aguilar. Avisail Garcia beat the shift for a single.

Things remained smooth in the second. Jazz Chisholm Jr. grounded out, Lorenzo Quintana struck out, and Willian Astudillo flew out to Starling Marte in right field.

“When you’re comparing a guy to Jacob deGrom and Max Scherzer, he may not jump off the page the same way. But you’re talking about once-in-a-generation type of players. For Bassitt to be labeled as a No. 3, that’s a pretty good pitching staff,” catcher James McCann said.

Bassitt found himself in a little trouble in the third. A wild pitch advanced a baserunner to second with two outs. He got Brian Anderson to ground out to end the inning.

The fourth inning, the Marlins were in striking distance. Garcia singled for the second time and Chisholm doubled to put runners on second and third with one out. Bassitt remained in control and escaped the jam with his second strikeout of Quintana and a groundout by Astudillo.

When in a jam, Bassitt uses a tip from Greg Maddux to remain calm. Maddux told him to focus on better execution instead of over-throwing when there are runners in scoring position.

Bassitt’s night would end in the fifth inning. He retired the first two batters he faced, then was replaced by Eric Orze. His final line would be four and two-thirds innings pitched, four hits, zero runs, zero walks, and three strikeouts.

Bassitt threw 69 pitches as he ramps up for the regular season. He says he’s used to a shortened spring and is taking lessons he learned from the 2020 condensed season to help him ramp up.

The Mets bullpen kept the scoresheet clean the rest of the way. Orze finished off the fifth inning for Bassitt then sat down. Felix Pena pitched two innings, allowing one hit and striking out two. Chasen Shreve continued his great spring with two strikeouts in an inning of work. Sean Reid-Foley pitched the ninth, allowing one hit, and striking out two. The Mets would win 10-0.

It was an excellent night for the entire Mets team.