The Mets defeated the Houston Astros 2-0 in Saturday night’s exhibition game.
Here are the takeaways…
– Max Scherzer made his third start of the spring and pitched well against an Astros lineup that was highlighted by Alex Bregman and Jose Abreu.
The right-hander breezed through seven scoreless innings of work. The only real damage against him was a one out Chas McCormick hustle double in the bottom of the second. After that, he went on a stretch where he retired the next ten batters in a row, including six strikeouts.
Two more Astros finally reached base, via walk and single, with two outs in the bottom of the fifth. However, Scherzer was able to get Marty Costas to groundout to end the threat.
After Bregman singled in the sixth, Scherzer got Abreu to ground into an inning ending double play. He came back out for the seventh and allowed a leadoff double, but struck out the next three batters to end his night.
Overall, Scherzer allowed just four hits, issued one walk, and struck out eight in seven dominant innings of work. He’s posted an impressive 0.87 ERA through three spring appearances.
– Mark Vientos continued making the most of his big opportunity this spring. In the field, he made a pair of solid plays over at the hot corner. At the plate, he lined an opposite-field double and drove in the first run of the game with a sacrifice fly.
– Team Locastrowho could land a spot on the Opening Day roster if Brandon Nimmo starts the season on the injured list, reached base two more times. He cracked his first homer of the spring and was hit by a pitch.
– Drew Smith entered in place of Scherzer in the bottom of the eight and he worked around a walk and a two out single to strike out three.
– Tommy Hunter closed out the game with a scoreless inning of his own, capping off the shutout. The veteran right-hander is yet to allow a run across six innings this spring.
Highlights
What’s Next
The Mets return to Clover Park to take on the St. Louis Cardinals on Sunday afternoon at 1:10 pm