The New York Mets (9-16) defeated the Washington Nationals (11-14) by a score of 12-5 at First Data Field on Thursday. It was the teams’ final spring meeting together before the regular season.
Pitching
Zack Wheeler took the mound for the Mets looking to continue the trend of success that their starting pitchers have had recently. He unfortunately could not do that as he gave up seven hits and five runs (three earned) in two innings while striking out three.
Seth Lugo came in after Wheeler and went four scoreless innings to lower his spring ERA to 2.87. He limited the Nationals to two hits and one walk while striking out five.
Paul Sewald pitched the seventh inning and turned in a scoreless frame.
Jacob Rhame was called upon to pitch the eighth inning and had a 1-2-3 inning along with a strikeout.
Robert Gsellman closed out the game with a scoreless inning thanks to the help of a 5-4-3 double play.
Offense
The Mets were held to two hits for the first three innings, but the flood gates opened in the fourth.
Yoenis Cespedes started things off by hitting a solo shot to left field to lead off the inning. With two on and no outs, Adrian Gonzalez drove in his second run of the spring on a line drive single.
Tomas Nido kept the good times rolling with an RBI single of his own to put the Mets within two of the Nationals. Lugo tied things at five after driving in Gonzalez and Amed Rosario on a single.
Brandon Nimmo gave the Mets the lead with a RBI double. Cespedes extended that lead with a sacrifice fly to left field. Jay Bruce capped off the nine-run fourth with a two-run homer to right field.
The Nationals were able to contain the Mets for one inning, but they attacked yet again in the sixth inning.
Cespedes was in the thick of things again as he hit a two-run homer to left field to put the Mets up 11-5. Todd Frazier got in on the fun as well as he contributed a solo shot to left.
On Deck
The Mets host the St. Louis Cardinals tomorrow at First Data Field with Drew Gagnon (0-0, 0.00 ERA) starting for the Mets and Dakota Hudson (0-0, 1.93 ERA) starting for the Cardinals. First pitch is scheduled for 1:10 p.m. EDT.
