In front of a nice St. Patrick’s Day crowd at Tradition Field in Port St. Lucie, the New York Mets defeated the Miami Marlins by a score of 6-4.
Pitching
After Jordany Valdespin blooped a single in front of Michael Cuddyer in left, Jacob deGrom, who started both batters off with 2-0 counts, got Martin Prado to ground into a 4-6-3 double play, retiring the next 14 batters to face him. The reigning rookie of the year was dazzling as he cruised through the rest of the game, going five dominating innings, striking out six, and showing everyone he’s ready for the regular season.
Steven Matz followed up deGrom with a perfect inning, getting three groundouts.
Scott Rice faced one batter in the top of the 7th, lefty Jordany Valdespin, and gave up a single past second base. He was relieved by Erik Goeddel, who subsequently gave up a double to Martin Prado. With runners on second and third and no outs, Marcell Ozuna grounded out to first and the run scored. Then, Michael Morse hit a two run home run to center field, giving the Marlins a 3-1 lead.
Jeurys Familia started the 8th inning with a Reed Johnson groundout, but Donovan Solano followed that up with a double. J.T. Realmuto singled to John Mayberry Jr. in right field, and the run scored giving Miami a 4-1 lead.
Jenrry Mejia came in for the save, and retired the first two batters with a strikeout and a groundout. After two singles, he induced a ground ball to third base, which ended the game for a 6-4 win.
Offense
Juan Lagares led off the game with a walk and Curtis Granderson followed that up with a solid base hit through the right side of the infield. Michael Cuddyer bounced into a 6-4-3 double play and Lucas Duda popped up to the catcher which ended the threat.
The Mets got on the board when DH and catching prospect Kevin Plawecki led off the bottom of the 5th inning with a solo home run over the left-center field fence, breaking the 0-0 tie and giving the Mets a 1-0 lead.
After Matt den Dekker led off the bottom of the 8th with a strikeout, John Mayberry walked and Kirk Nieuwenhuis connected for a ground rule double. There was a wild pitch and the runners moved up (4-2 Marlins) and then Brandon Allen hit a sacrifice fly, scoring Kirk, tightening the Marlins’ lead to 4-3.
Then after Ruben Tejada walked, catcher Johnny Monell pinch hit for Travis d’Arnaud and blasted a three run homer to right center field, giving the Mets a 6-4 lead.
Notes
Jacob deGrom featured his newly revived curveball at a few different points in the game and it looked very good, as he showed it has a lot of movement as well as excellent control over it. He looked fantastic, I see no reason to expect a sophomore slump.
Akeel Morris was supposed to relieve today, but wasn’t used. No reason as to why was given.
To lead off the 3rd inning, Reed Johnson hit a fly ball to left-center field. Cuddyer and Lagares converged on the ball and Lagares made the catch, but the two bumped together in the process. Not a major collision at all, don’t despair, they’re both 100% fine. However, this could be one of the hazards of having Cuddyer playing left field, as he is completely deaf in his left ear. Some speculated that this would be an issue as he wouldn’t be able to hear Juan Lagares call for the ball, and this could be the first instance of that being a prevalent concern.
I like how much heart the Mets are showing, even in spring training. After being down 4-1 in the bottom of the 8th inning, they put up a 5-spot. Especially on a day after finding out Zack Wheeler needs TJ surgery, this impressed me.
On Deck
The Mets have a well deserved day off on Wednesday and then Dillon Gee and Jon Niese will start in a pair of split-squad games on Thursday against Houston and St. Louis.
