Photo by Ed Delany of Metsmerized

Max Scherzer took the bump for his second start of the spring on Friday afternoon against the Nationals. Former Met Trevor Williams started the game for Washington in his first action against the Mets since leaving in free agency this past offseason.

Scherzer and Williams both avoided trouble through the first two innings. Scherzer retired all six batters in order while the ball never left the infield. Williams gave up a leadoff Mark Canha single in the first but would avoid trouble as he also retired the next six in a row.

Scherzer’s success in the first two innings, however, would not repeat itself in the third inning which was a brutal one for the Mets. Ildemaro Vargas led it off with a weak infield single and advanced to second base on what was ruled a balk when Scherzer threw a pitch to Victor Robles who was in the batter’s box but was not ready for the pitch. Scherzer later expressed confusion over why this was called a balk. Robles wound up reaching base on a rare Luis Guillorme error.

Vargas scored on a fielder’s choice and Robles was driven in by an Alex Call single before Luis García hit a two-run homer to right field to make it 4-0. It seemed as though the inning was finally going to end but Guillorme almost unbelievably committed another error on a routine ground ball that went under his glove.

After giving up another hit, Scherzer was relieved by David Griffin who himself gave up two more hits and a hit-by-pitch before finally ending the nightmare inning by striking out CJ Abrams. In all, the Nationals put up eight runs in the inning to make it 8-0. Seven runs were charged to Scherzer but none of them were earned due to the errors.

The Mets’ attempt to rally began in the bottom of the inning when José Peraza hit a two-run homer to cut the deficit to six, however Edwin Díaz allowed the Nationals to add another run in the top of the fourth on a fielder’s choice.

The Mets’ rally restarted itself in the bottom of the fifth inning when Tomás Nido hit an opposite field homer off of Carl Edwards Jr. Edwards was unable to recover as he subsequently loaded the bases, allowing Jeff McNeil to drive in a pair of runs on a line drive up the middle. A Daniel Vogelbach sacrifice fly brought the Mets to within three runs before the Nationals were finally able to put the inning to rest.

In the top of the sixth, the Nationals once again responded to the Mets’ rally with a Luis García RBI single to make it 10-6. Elieser Hernández limited the damage by inducing an inning-ending double play.

Hernández stayed on in the seventh to pitch to Francisco Álvarez who relieved Tomás Nido, getting his first action behind the plate this spring. Hernández threw a quick eight pitch inning including two strikeouts to end his outing. In total, Hernández threw 15 of his 16 total pitches for strikes. John Curtiss followed up Hernández’s 1-2-3 inning with one of his own, striking out one and retiring the side in nine pitches.

Ronny Mauricio improved upon his already impressive spring with a check swing double in the bottom of the eighth, his only at-bat of the day. Mauricio’s OPS this spring is now up to 2.056. Francisco Álvarez was unable to drive him in, however, as he struck out to end the inning.

Yasel Antuna launched a solo home run off William Woods in the top of the 9th and the Mets went down 1-2-3 in the bottom of the inning to give the Nationals an 11-6 victory.

Photo by Ed Delany of Metsmerized

Player of the Game

José Peraza is the Mets’ player of the game in this one, as he impressed by going 2-for-3 with a two-run homer. Peraza will provide solid infield depth for the team this year, though he likely won’t be counted on to have much of an impact on the major league team as he did in 2021.

On Deck

The Mets head to Jupiter on Saturday to face the Miami Marlins. Justin Verlander will get his first action in a Mets uniform with the start, while the Marlins will be sending out lefty Jesús Luzardo. First pitch will be at 1:10 p.m. and it will be on MLB TV via the Marlins.