The Mets dropped another home matchup against the Houston Astros by a final of 5-2 at First Data Field. They are now 5-11 this spring, sitting at the bottom of the Grapefruit League standings.

Pitching:

Jacob deGrom began his afternoon by striking out the side in a 15-pitch first inning, mixing a 95-97 mile per hour fastball with a slider that sat 90-92.

Despite maintaining his velocity the following inning, deGrom was victimized by a walk and a pair of singles. He retired his next three hitters on seven pitches, admittedly on two sacrifice flies to put Houston ahead. He threw 13 pitches in the third, recording two outs, one on a strikeout, before being pulled for Paul Sewald, who immediately induced a flyout.

Watch the video below to hear his thoughts on his performance.

Jason Vargas pitched the next four innings, allowing three walks and four hits, including a Garrett Stubbs solo home run, but also inducing double plays in both the fifth and sixth while striking out five batters in a consistent, laborious 65-pitch effort.

Jacob Rhame allowed a double and walked a batter to begin the eighth, but worked out three popups to escape a scoreless inning of work.

Kevin McGowan was charged with two runs (one earned) in a sloppy ninth inning, allowing two hits and a walk while striking out one. A Luis Guillorme throwing error on a double play ball that would have ended the inning instead allowed a run to score and gave way for an RBI single the following at-bat. McGowan has now allowed 13 earned runs in just 4.1 innings of work.

Offense:

Yoenis Cespedes continues to rake out of the two-spot this spring, homering off Lance McCullers in the first.

Kevin Plawecki went 2-for-3 on the afternoon, stroking two singles to left, one for an RBI in the sixth to cut the Mets’ deficit to one run. He is now hitting .381 this spring

The rest of the Mets offense failed to make much noise in the loss, as Asdrubal Cabrera and Juan Lagares struck out two and three times, respectively. Adrian Gonzalez (now hitting .192) and Amed Rosario (now hitting .222) each went hitless as well.

An error and a pair of walks loaded the bases in the eighth, but a Patrick Mazeika 3-2-3 double play and Luis Guillorme 3-1 groundout squashed the rally, as the Mets ultimately left 11 runners on base while going just 1-for-10 with men in scoring position.

On Deck:

The Mets have the day off tomorrow, but will play in two split-squad games Tuesday. One group will host the split-squad Astros in an untelevised home game at 1:10, while the latter will head over to the Ballpark of the Palm Beaches in West Palm for a 7:05 contest against the Nationals, featuring MLB Network coverage.