Mark Vientos showed off his power, Starling Marte showed off his arm and Luis Severino showed off his stuff, but the Mets (4-3) lost a 3-2 decision to the St. Louis Cardinals (3-3) at Roger Dean Stadium in Jupiter, Florida.
Vientos, hoping to secure a spot in the everyday lineup, launched an opposite field solo homer off lefty Matthew Liberatore to open the scoring in the top of the second.
With a runner on second in the first inning, Marte caught a fly ball near the right field line and fired a strike on a fly to Vientos at third, who tagged a sliding Dylan Carlson for the double play.
Severino pitched two innings in his spring training debut, giving up no hits and striking out one. The two-time All Star was relieved by 22-year-old prospect Blade Tidwell, who did not fare well.
Photo by Sam Navarro-USA TODAY Sports
Tidwell struck out Jordan Walker to start his day, but catcher Omar Narváez couldn’t handle strike three and Walker reached first before scoring later in the frame on a Carlson single. Tidwell finished his day with four strikeouts in 1 2/3 innings, but gave up four hits, three earned runs and took the loss.
After Tidwell’s day was done, the Mets relied on Paul Gervase, Sean Reid-Foley, Eric Orze, Cam Robinson and David Griffin to cover the remaining 4 1/3 innings left in the contest. The fivesome allowed just four hits and no runs to go with six strikeouts the rest of the way.
Tomás Nido recorded an RBI single in the eighth inning off of Nick Robertson that scored Nick Morabito and cut the Cardinals’ lead to 3-2, though that score would hold as the Mets were shut down by Ryan Fernandez in the ninth.
PROSPECT PERFORMANCES
- Eric Orze pitched a perfect sixth inning with a strikeout.
- Cam Robinson threw a scoreless seventh inning with two strikeouts.
- Jeremiah Jackson went 1-for-1 with a ninth inning single.
- Ryan Clifford made his spring training debut and went 0-for-1.
PLAYER OF THE GAME
The player of the game goes to Marte, who made an impact on both sides of the ball in the first inning with his outfield assist and bunt single as part of a 1-for-2 performance.
ON DECK
Sean Manaea will make his spring training debut against the Miami Marlins tomorrow at 1:10 p.m. ET at Roger Dean Stadium in Jupiter, Florida. Top pitching prospects Christian Scott and Mike Vasil are also scheduled to see action and make their spring debuts as well. The game will not be broadcast locally.
