The Houston Astros brought their A-team to Port St. Lucie on Saturday afternoon to face the New York Mets, with Jose Altuve, George Springer, and Alex Bregman in the lineup and Justin Verlander on the mound.
Despite Wilson Ramos‘ go-ahead grand slam in the fifth inning (3-for-3 on the day), the Mets dropped to 4-4 in Grapefruit League play with an 8-6 loss to the ‘Stros.
Michael Conforto tagged Verlander for a solo homer in the first and Ramos added a single, but that was the extent of the damage the veteran right-hander would allow in his three innings of work. Verlander looked to be in complete control in his second Grapefruit League appearance.
Noah Syndergaard made his second start of the spring, and though he didn’t allow a hit, sat in the high-90s with his fastball consistently (touching 99 MPH at times), and struck out four over 2.2 innings of work, he showed an uncharacteristic bout with control issues, walking five Astros hitters.
Newly-signed southpaw Justin Wilson allowed two home runs in his one-inning appearance, Jeurys Familia allowed two runs in an uneven frame, and Edwin Diaz made his first appearance of the spring, touching 98 MPH with his fastball and unleashing that nasty slider, as well.
Jeff McNeil appeared to aggravate the scrape on his left hand that kept him out of action earlier in the week during his at-bat in the fifth inning before exiting the game.
Pitching
Noah Syndergaard walked Springer to start the game, then walked Bregman two batters later, before dropping a would-be inning-ending double-play throw, allowing Springer to score the game’s first run.
Syndergaard settled down in the second, striking out AJ Reed swinging at a 93 MPH changeup, Aldemys Diaz on a 99 MPH two-seamer, then got Derek Fisher to ground out.
Noah issued three consecutive one-out walks in the third, then struck out Brantley swinging to end his afternoon after 2.2 innings of work (no hits, four strikeouts, five walks, unearned run allowed). Chris Flexen retired the only batter he faced to finish the inning.
Left-hander Justin Wilson got the call in the fourth, allowing a leadoff, go-ahead homer to AJ Reed. Two batters later he gave up another bomb, this time to Derek Fisher, extending the ‘Stros’ lead to 3-1.
After allowing a leadoff walk to Altuve and hitting Bregman with a pitch to start the fifth, Jeurys Familia allowed an RBI single to Brantley and Chirinos added an RBI single of his own to make it a 5-1 game. He recovered to retire Reed, Diaz, and Fisher in order, leaving two runners stranded.
Edwin Diaz walked Jake Marisnick to start the sixth, but Wilson Ramos erased pinch-runner Ronnie Dawson attempting to steal second with a perfect throw. After issuing a walk, Diaz sat-down the next two batters he faced to leave him stranded.
Drew Gagnon took the ball in the seventh, allowing a leadoff hit-by-pitch and three consecutive two-out RBI singles (plus a Rymer Liriano error in left field) to give Houston an 8-6 lead.
Hector Santiago allowed a two-out double in the eighth and a leadoff single in the ninth but otherwise looked solid in his third appearance of the spring, registering three strikeouts and benefitting from an excellent throw by catcher Ali Sanchez to nail Garrett Stubbs stealing second, ending the ninth.
Offense
Verlander struck out Jeff McNeil on some high heat to start the first, then Conforto hit an absolute moonshot to right field, clearing the wall by mere inches to tie the game at one. Ramos added a two-out single but was left stranded.
Ramos added his second hit of the afternoon, a one-out shot to left, in the bottom of the fourth off Astros left-hander Reymin Guduan, but Dominic Smith and Alonso both struck out swinging, leaving him on first.
J.D. Davis led off the fifth with a base hit, his sixth of the spring off Astros top-prospect, right-hander Forrest Whitley. Danny Espinosa followed with a walk, and Conforto brought home his second run of the afternoon with a two-out single up the middle to cut Houston’s lead to 5-2.
Cano reached on an error in the next at-bat to load the bases, then Wilson Ramos crushed a grand slam to right-centerfield, giving the Mets a 6-5 lead.
Whitley, Houston’s first-round pick in 2016 (17th overall) then proceeded to mow through the next six Mets batters he faced over the sixth and seventh innings.
Down by two runs, Dario Pizzano, Dilson Herrera, and Andres Gimenez walked to start the bottom of the ninth. Rajai Davis grounded out to third, scoring Pizzano to cut the lead to 8-7. The game appeared to be tied up, in the next at-bat, but runner interference was called.
On a groundball from Gregor Blanco, Davis did not avoid contact sliding into second. The relay throw to first was dropped, allowing Gimenez to score, but the run was nullified, ending the game.
On Deck
Zack Wheeler is scheduled to start for the Mets against Daniel Ponce de Leon and the St. Louis Cardinals at Roger Dean Chevrolet Stadium in Jupiter, Florida on Sunday at 1 PM.
The game will be broadcast locally on WCBS 880 AM.
