The New York Mets (1-1) entered Sunday afternoon’s spring training contest against the Houston Astros at Clover Park hoping for the team’s first win of spring. They were able to do so, notching a 3-1 decision. Of course, winning is not what spring training is all about. It is about seeing what the young players can do and who pushes for a big role come the regular season.

Two specific players that shined on Sunday were new Met Tyrone Taylor and New York’s prized catcher Francisco Álvarez. The two coincidentally hit first and second in the lineup and combined to go 4-for-6 with three runs, a home run, stole base, and two RBI. Specifically, Álvarez tallied a two-run shot that scored Taylor in the third inning that barely cleared the right-field fence.

Elsewhere, 25-year-old José Butto started the game and threw two innings. He allowed three hits but no runs. He did not walk a batter and had one strikeouts. The results on the surface seemed fine, however, he allowed five hard-hit balls and only induced two swing-and-misses.

Butto’s performance will be extremely important to monitor throughout spring training. With the injury of Kodai Senga, the Mets have an open rotation spot and potentially another, if the team were to utilize a six-man rotation as the season goes on. Butto was solid last year in a small sample, hopefully he can show, as spring goes on, he would be a solid option in the majors once the season starts.

Behind Butto, the Mets got scoreless frames from Austin Adams, Yohan Ramírez, Cole Sulser, Tyler Jay, and Júnior Santos. The lone Met to allow a run was Paul Gervase who allowed a run without allowing a hit, as he walked three.

Other notable aspects of the game offensively was José Iglesias picking up another hit, he has hits in back-to-back games to begin spring. Mark Vientos tallied a knock as well. The lone Mets’ run that did not come via the Álvarez home run was a Ji-Man Choi double play groundout.

Statistic of the Game: Five Hard-Hit Balls

As mentioned above, José Butto did not allow a run, but he allowed five hard-hit balls. In compared to his peers, the rest of the game, the Astros only tallied two other hard-batted balls. In all, Houston had a hard-hit rate of 31.6% and an expected batting average of .247 in the contest.

Francisco Álvarez. Photo by Ed Delany of MMO

Player of the Game: Francisco Álvarez

The Mets’ catcher hit second for New York and went 2-f0r-2 with a home run, 2 RBI, and a run. His single in the first inning came at 101 mph off the bat. Meanwhile, his home run in the third inning came off the bat at 97.5 mph.

On Deck

The Mets continue their spring schedule Monday afternoon at 1:05 pm ET against the Washington Nationals. New York will travel to CACTI Park of the Palm Beaches in West Palm Beach for the contest. Max Kranick is projected to start the game.