Spring Training games are here, and it’s the beginning of baseball games. The New York Mets lined up against the St. Louis Cardinals in their first in-game action of the season. The Mets will play some starters and someone like Brandon Nimmo won’t play much to start the spring. Tylor Megill took the mound for the Mets to begin Grapefruit League action. With Kodai Senga starting the season on the injured list, many more eyes will be on Megill with a spot in the rotation open. The Cardinals took this game home, winning 10-5 in a sloppy affair with many mistakes by the Mets.
Tylor Megill. Photo by MMO’s Ed Delany
Mets Fall To Cardinals 10-5 In Spring Debut
Megill was a bit rocky through his two innings of work. He threw over 20 pitches in the first inning and hit the first batter he faced, Brendan Donovan. Megill threw a wild pitch and got into a second and third nobody-out jam to begin. He limited the damage to just one run as St. Louis took an early 1-0 lead on a force out. His second inning of work was better. He got Buddy Kennedy to ground into a double play and struck out Victor Scott II to end his Spring Training debut. He struck out three batters overall and allowed one earned run. Megill even struck out Jordan Walker on his new “American Spork” pitch.
In the top of the 3rd, Megill would give way to Hunter Parsons. Parsons would struggle mightily. He gave up three runs, all earned, on three hits, one walk, and throwing 34 pitches. Left-hander Josh Walker took over in the top of the 4th, and again, it wasn’t pretty. Walker faced 10 Cardinals batters and gave up four runs on three hits, one walk, and a hit batsman. As the Cardinals took an 8-0 lead.
Yackel Ríos, Grant Hartwig, Reed Garrett, Nate Lavender, and David Griffin finished off the day on the mound for New York. Combined, they went four innings, allowing two earned runs (both by Garrett), and struck out seven. Catcher Hayden Senger provided the first home run of the Spring to cut the Cardinals lead to 10-5.
Mets Score Their First Runs Of The Spring
The Mets finally got on the board in the bottom half of the 4th inning. Baty singled to begin the inning and reached second on a throwing error. Mark Vientos would single to the right, and José Iglesias drove in Baty on the double into the gap in right-center. Nido would get Vientos home on an RBI ground out. Cutting the Cardinals lead to 8-2.
Player Of The Game: Francisco Lindor & Nate Lavender
It was an overall sloppy Spring debut for the Mets, so we’ll split this one between Francisco Lindor and Lavender. Lindor lined the first hit of the Spring in his first at-bat on a 3-0 count. Lavender came in for the top of the 8th inning and struck out the side. Lavender blew away all three batters he faced and looked very impressive. We’ll also give a shoutout to Alex Ramirez, who lined two hits to right field, as well as Luisangel Acuña and Baty, who played well on defense.
On Deck
The Mets Spring Training action continues tomorrow as the Houston Astros come to Clover Park. After Megill took the mound, José Butto will start as the competition within the Mets rotation rolls on.
Sunday’s game against the Astros will start at 1:10 p.m. eastern time. The game will be broadcast on WPIX and MLB Network.
