Photo by Ed Delany/MMO
The New York Mets (1-4-1) played the team that forever will be associated with the word asterisk next to it, the Houston Astros, and lost 4-2. The crowd booed lustily when the Astros were introduced saving their best vitriol for plate appearances by George Springer who was part of the 2017 championship team. Many of the other veteran players for Houston did not make the trip to Clover Field.
Noah Syndergaard pitched for the first time this spring and was very effective, pitching a strong 2-innings. Edwin Diaz was not as effective giving up three hard-hit balls and two runs. The other notable for the Mets was Ryan Cordell who was a late addition to the line-up. He homered, singled and made a terrific catch in center with the bases loaded to keep the game close.
Pitching
Noah Syndergaard made his spring debut for the Mets and could hardly have been more efficient. He pitched two innings, tossing 18 total pitches (9 per inning) and gave up only one hit. He struck out two and walked none. His off-speed pitched broke effectively and he hit 99-mph on his fastball.
Justin Wilson started the third inning for New York and also had a strong outing. He threw 15 pitches and had a 1-2-3 inning. He struck out one Astro in his appearance.
If Syndergaard was the object of the most scrutiny in his debut this year, Edwin Diaz was a close second coming off a poor 2019 season. Diaz came on to pitch the fourth inning and gave up three hard-hit balls and two runs. He did throw a few effective sliders and his fastball did top out at 98 mph in his 25-pitch inning. Four-time All-Star Michael Brantley led off with a hard-hit single. Doubles by Aledmys Diaz and Dustin Garneau (both hard-hit) made the score 2-0.
29-year old Chasen Shreve came in for inning five. It was Shreve’s second appearance of the year. He gave up two runs in his first outing and was looking to bounce back. He ended up giving up an unearned run in the frame as he loaded the bases with no one out but escaped by allowing only the one run. Brantley, who hit the ball hard three times for Houston, lifted a sacrifice fly to make the score 3-1. Ryan Cordell made a terrific catch with the bags full preventing a bases-clearing hit.
Walker Lockett pitched the sixth and didn’t have his customary control but got through the inning unscathed. He survived an error and a walk to keep the score at 3-2. Lockett stayed in the game and got the first two outs of the seventh. Yefry Ramirez, who pitched for the Baltimore Orioles and Pittsburgh Pirates in 2019, recorded the final out.
Tyler Bashlor took the mound in the eighth and allowed a single in an otherwise strong inning. Bashlor was the Mets seventh pitcher used on Wednesday afternoon.
Stephen Villines, a Mets minor-leaguer since 2017, was next to the mound in the ninth. The 24-year old was greeted rudely by the Astros as Cesar Salazar hit a long home run to right to extend the Astros lead to 4-2.
Offense
The Mets managed just six hits on Wednesday.
The offense started with a single by Jeff McNeil on the first pitch of the first inning. He was erased on a double play off the bat of Pete Alonso.
The bats stayed silent until the bottom of the fourth when Ryan Cordell, who was a late replacement in the line-up for Brandon Nimmo, homered to right-center to cut the Houston lead to 2-1. Nimmo was scratched due to additional cardiac testing deemed necessary by the team cardiologist.
For Cordell, it was his first homer of the spring. He hit seven last year as a member of the Chicago White Sox. Cordell would later get his second hit of the game to add to his defensive gem in the fifth.
The Mets crept closer in the bottom of the fifth. The Amazins’ strung together three straight hits in the frame, beginning with a single by Max Moroff. He stole second and scored on a single by Dominic Smith. Eduardo Nunez also singled moving Smith to second but the Mets could not bring him around and settled for one run to cut the Houston lead to 3-2.
On Deck
The Mets get their first taste of night baseball in 2020 as they play a 7:05 tilt against the Miami Marlins Thursday at Roger Dean Chevrolet Stadium. Rick Porcello will be making his second appearance for the Mets this spring pitted against Robert Dugger, who also will be making his second outing. There will be no television or radio coverage for the game.
