Photo by Ed Delany

The New York Mets were defeated by the St. Louis Cardinals 5-1 at First Data Field on Friday afternoon.

Pitching

Drew Gagnon, a 27-year-old right-handed minor leaguer signed this offseason, made his first start for the Mets in place of Noah Syndergaard this afternoon (Mets didn’t want Syndergaard to face Cards this close to Opening Day).

The Cardinals struck early with a run in the first. Dexter Fowler led off the game with a double to right. Two batters later, Fowler came in to score the first run of the game on a Matt Carpenter RBI single.

St. Louis added another run in the top of the third. Kolten Wong led off the inning with a double, and he came around to score on a Francisco Pena RBI single. A Wilmer Flores diving stop at first helped Gagnon strand Pena at third.

Gagnon finished his afternoon with a scoreless fourth inning. In total, he allowed two runs on five hits while striking out two over four innings.

Paul Sewald worked around a two out Jay Bruce fielding error in a scoreless fifth inning. He lowered his spring ERA to 3.75 in 12 innings.

Jacob Rhame allowed a pair of runs, while only recording two outs in the sixth. Matt Carpenter and Jose Martinez led off the inning with back-to-back doubles. Two batters later, pinch runner Patrick Wisdom scored on a Yairo Munoz single increasing the lead to 4-1.

Kevin McGowan replaced Rhame, and another Cardinal run came around to score when Travis d’Arnuad threw the ball into left field on a stolen base attempt. All three runs in the inning were charged to Rhame.

After getting out of the sixth, McGowan struck out a pair in a scoreless seventh inning.

Minor leaguers Tim Peterson and Matt Blackham both threw a scoreless inning in their first appearances of the spring.

Hitting

Batting leadoff and making his first start of the spring at DH, Michael Conforto went 1-for-4 with a single off former Met Sean Gilmartin.

Wilmer Flores picked up the Mets first hit of the game with a two-out single in the first, he also drew a walk in the sixth.

Making his first career Spring Training start, Mets 19-year-old top prospect SS Andres Gimenez went 2-for-3 with a single and an RBI double.

A two-out double off the bat of Gimenez in the fifth accounted for the Mets only run of the game.

Jose Reyes doubled to left center in the bottom of the sixth off of former Met lefty Sean Gilmartin.

For the first time in a spring game, Phillip Evans put on the catchers gear and caught the top of the ninth inning. At the plate, he went 0-for-4 with a pair of strikeouts.

On the injury front, Jason Vargas did play catch today though he was sent to the hospital with a stomach bug.

On Deck

Lefty P.J. Conlon makes his first start of the spring in place of Steven Matz as the Mets travel to Roger Dean Stadium in Jupiter to take on the Cardinals tomorrow afternoon at 1:10 p.m.