Photo: NY Mets

Francisco Lindor broke a sixth-inning tie with his fourth home run of the spring and put the Mets up for good as they beat the Miami Marlins 5-3 on Tuesday.

Lindor also scored Brandon Nimmo on a two-out double two innings before. Lindor is 11-for-22 with four home runs and 11 RBIs his last six spring training games. The Mets have nine days to sign their new shortstop to an extension with his self-imposed deadline.

Now let’s get into the rest of the game.

Pitching

Marcus Stroman started the game. Piggybacking off a five-inning, one-run performance against Washington his last time out, Stroman went the same distance today, struggling a bit more the deeper he got in today’s game.

Stroman got a lot of ground balls today, but he also gave up nine hard-hit balls over his five-plus innings. Seven of those came in the fourth and fifth innings. He ended up allowed nine hits and three runs (one on a sac fly, two on a Miguel Rojas home run) with three strikeouts in his five-plus innings.

Most importantly, Stroman reached 76 pitches today. He should have one more tune up for the regular season, where he’ll aim to hit around 90 pitches, before likely starting the second game of the season (though that is not set in stone). Stroman has a 3.44 ERA through 18.1 spring innings so far.

The best part of the team’s pitching today came next.

After Stroman exited the game after allowing two singles to start the sixth, Jacob Barnes struck out the next two batters and got JJ Bleday to pop out to leave two runners stranded.

It was an important outing for Barnes who is fighting for a bullpen spot. Barnes doesn’t have any options left, and the team will have to pass Barnes through waivers if he doesn’t make the team in order to retain him.

The next three relievers–Aaron Loup, Trevor May, and Tommy Hunter–allowed just one hit and a walk in three innings. Each of the final three relievers has a spring ERA sitting in the 3.00 to 3.60 range over five-to-six spring innings.

May and Hunter will make the team. Hunter, a non-roster invitee, has an outside shot.

Batting

Lindor was the star of today’s game, but Kevin Pillar and Brandon Nimmo got the offense rolling with a pair of third-inning triples to put the Mets up 1-0.

Lindor’s double then tacked on another run, Michael Conforto got hit by a pitch, and Pete Alonso knocked home Lindor with a single to make it 3-0.

The rally ended two batters later, but not before Jeff McNeil could get hit by a pitch for the seventh time this spring. No other player has been hit more than four times, according to MLB.com‘s Anthony DiComo.

Lindor’s home run (all four this spring have come from the left side of the plate and went over the right field wall) broke the the 3-3 tie in the fifth inning, and J.D. Davis hit a solo shot of his own an inning later.

Some other offensive notes:

  • After two hits today, Kevin Pillar now batting .324 in 34 spring at-bats.
  • Michael Conforto was shown on the SNY broadcast talking to Mike Piazza during the game about hitting. That’s a couple of sweet swings talking about handling a bat.
  • Dominic Smith pinch hit today after returning to action yesterday, he flew out in his only AB.
  • Brandon Nimmo’s spring OPS is .995 (.452 OBP) over 42 plate appearances after a triple today.

On Deck

The Mets will once again travel to the Roger Dean Chevrolet Stadium to face Carlos Martínez and the St. Louis Cardinals at 1:05 p.m. Taijuan Walker will start for the Mets.

This will be Martinez’s fourth straight start against the New York. Over the first three, he’s pitched 10 innings and allowed seven earned runs.

The Wednesday game will be broadcast on television and radio by the Cardinals. The next SNY broadcast will be Friday evening against the Washington Nationals.