The New York Mets lost to the Miami Marlins by a score of 8-1 this afternoon at Roger Dean Chevrolet Stadium in Jupiter (box score).
Pitching
Jacob deGrom allowed two runs and six hits through his first five-inning outing of the spring. Three such hits came in the bottom of the first, with the first baserunner, Brian Anderson, being erased at third on an assist from Juan Lagares.
Anderson would homer in the bottom of the third following a one-out single from former Met Curtis Granderson to give the Marlins an early 2-0 lead. DeGrom proceeded to retire Neil Walker via popout and Starlin Castro with a swinging strikeout. The righty allowed just one more hit over his final two innings, notching a pair of strikeouts in the fifth.
Left-hander Héctor Santiago got the ball in the sixth and struck out the side after hitting the leadoff batter. He currently owns a 1.50 ERA this spring with 11 strikeouts across his first six innings.
Things fell apart in the final inning and a third, when Tyler Bashlor allowed five consecutive two-out hits – the latter three a run-scoring infield hit by shortstop Yadiel Rivera, a two-run double by first baseman Garrett Cooper, and an RBI single from second baseman Jon Berti to make it a 6-1 game.
Daniel Zamora would not fare much better in the eighth, walking two batters and allowing an earned run to add to the deficit. Tim Peterson came in to record the final two outs, but not before an errant double-play relay by Adeiny Hechavarria cost the Mets another run.
Offense
The Mets struggled to answer Marlins’ starter Trevor Richards, who struck out six while walking just one in five shutout innings.
The righty enjoyed a stretch of four consecutive strikeouts between the first and second, fanning Juan Lagares, Dominic Smith, Wilson Ramos, and J.D. Davis before a Rajai Davis double broke the funk.
Davis was stranded at second after a Gregor Blanco groundout, and the only other hit – Adeiny Hechavarria, would suffer the same fate in the third. Following a leadoff double, Hechavarria was left in scoring position thanks to a strikeout of Danny Espinosa, a groundout from Jeff McNeil, and a second punchout of Lagares to retire the side.
The Mets would go down in order on 18 pitches through Richards’ last two innings, but bounced back with two out in the sixth against lefty reliever Mike Kickham. After Lagares singled and stole second, Smith roped a double into right field to make it a 2-1 game.
Smith singled in the ninth to cap off another multi-hit performance, and is now in possession of a .433 average and .1.084 OPS – tied for the highest and sixth-highest figures in the majors this spring (respectively).
Travis d’Arnaud grounded out to third to end the inning, and the Mets would scratch off just two more hits through the last three innings – one being a slow shift-beating infield hit by McNeil.
Among individual performances, both Danny Espinosa and Gregor Blanco went hitless in three at-bats, and currently own an .074 and .143 batting average (respectively).
On Deck
The Mets will come back to Port St. Lucie tomorrow for a 1:10 tuneup against the Houston Astros. Noah Syndergaard will make his fourth start of the spring against two-time All-Star Gerrit Cole. The game will be televised on SNY, with the Astros’ radio station KBME 790 providing audio.
