The New York Mets routed the St. Louis Cardinals on St. Patrick’s Day by a score of 16-2. The Mets had 17 hits and eight walks at First Data Field in Port St. Lucie.
Pitching
Steven Matz made his third start of the spring for the Mets and went 3.2 innings. In 68 pitches he gave up two hits, one run, and three walks, while striking out three. His ERA now sits at 1.04 for the spring.
Paul Sewald relieved Matz in the fourth and got out of the inning on one pitch; a groundout to third. Sewald proceeded to pitch the fifth and gave up a hit and a walk, but no runs. He continues to roll this spring as he has now given up only one run in 9.1 innings for the spring (0.96 ERA).
Josh Smoker pitched a scoreless inning striking out one, hitting a batter, and giving up a hit. Like Sewald, Smoker is sporting a 0.96 spring ERA.
Erik Goeddel, Jerry Blevins, and Addison Reed all went an inning to finish the game. Goeddel gave up one run, while Blevins and Reed pitched scoreless frames.
Offense
The Mets offense was explosive from the get-go as they scored four runs in the first inning. Yoenis Cespedes got things started with a sac fly and Jay Bruce followed with a RBI single. Wilmer Flores then drove in two with a double.
The Mets took advantage of Adam Wainwright‘s control issues in the second as they collected five walks and scored six runs highlighted by a grand slam from Flores.
The club wouldn’t go down quietly even after Wainwright left. They pick up three more walks and four runs in the third inning. Cespedes, Neil Walker, and Travis d’Arnaud all drove in runs on singles to make the score 14-1.
The Mets added their 15th run of the game in the sixth on a ground out from Ian Strom scoring Xorge Carrillo. Their 16th and final run came in the seventh on a Ty Kelly RBI single.
The hits were well distributed among the players as 14 different Mets notched a hit. Asdrubal Cabrera, Michael Conforto, and Flores all had multi-hit games. Flores finished the afternoon with the two hits, the grand slam as well as a walk, a run scored, and six RBI.
Cespedes, Walker, Bruce, and d’Arnaud all drove in two runs.
Matz also got in his first swings of the spring. He grounded out twice, flew out once, and left three runners on base.
On Deck
The Mets head to Roger Dean Stadium on Saturday to face the Cardinals. Robert Gsellman (1-1, 2.57 ERA) will be opposed by Michael Wacha (2-0, 1.38 ERA).
