Mets prospects, Brett Baty and Ronny Mauricio supported strong outings from Carlos Carrasco and Taylor Megill in the team’s 5-5 tie with the Astros on Tuesday night.
Here are the takeaways…
– Carlos Carrasco was on the bump for the Mets on Tuesday night and had a similar outing to his first. In his first start this spring, Carrasco went two innings and gave up two runs. Carrasco was largely effective against the defending World Series champions but made a costly mistake giving up a solo shot to shortstop Grae Kissinger in the second inning to put Houston up 1-0.
Carrasco settled down and finished his night scattering four hits over three innings, one earned run and striking out two batters. After his start, Carrasco told reporters that he was more comfortable with the pitch clock this time around.
– Taylor Megill pitched in relief of Carrasco and was pretty dominant. Megill pitched 2.1 innings, giving up just one hit, walking two and striking out three. With Jose Quintana out with a fractured rib, and his timetable for his return uncertain, Megill could be up for a spot on the rotation when the regular season ends.
– Mark Canha had himself a good day. After getting the team’s first hit, a single, in the first inning, the outfielder picked up the team’s first run. He went the opposite way, sneaking a single between second and first to score Team Locastro from second base to make it 1-1. Locastro stole second in that inning, his fifth stolen base this spring.
Before the game, manager Buck Showalter said Canha will see some reps at first base, while Tuesday saw the veteran in right field, it’ll be interesting to see how that will look.
– Darin Ruf got his first spring training start and you can see the rust. After grounding out in his first at-bat, the first baseman struck out looking on three pitches to Framber Valdez in his second with men on first and second base. Ruf struck out in his third at-bat, ending his night 0-for-3 with two Ks.
– Mark Vientos started at third base. He singled up the middle in his first at-bat but struck out swinging on a pitch out of the zone in his second time up. He would swing on the first pitch in his third at-bat, which resulted in a groundout. His night ended 1-for-3. So far this spring, the prospect is hitting .308.
– Brett Baty would replace Vientos at third in the sixth inning and immediately made his presence known defensively, snagging a grounder and launching it to first base to end the inning.
At the plate, Baty had an opportunity to give the Mets the lead in his first at-bat. With Alvarez at third and Jose Peraza at first, Baty hit a soft groundball to allow his teammate to score. He singled in his second at-bat and stole a base.
– Francisco Alvarez started at DH. In his first at-bat, he hit a grounder to the shortstop for the force out to end the second inning with men on first and third. His second at-bat wasn’t much better. Alvarez struck out on three pitches, all swinging, but two of them were more waves than actual swings. Alvarez got off the snide in the game with a single to centerfield.
– Ronny Mauricio got his first at-bat in the seventh inning with the bases loaded and two outs. He singled to the right side to plate two runs and give the Mets a 4-1 lead. That hit put Mauricio’s average this spring to .385 and he now has five RBI.
– Jaylin Davis hit a solo shot to left field to put the Mets up 5-1 in the eighth. Joey Lucchesi would have a rough eighth inning, giving up one run, but it could have been worse. He got out of it with an inning-ending double play.
unfortunately, Zach Greene couldn’t close it out in the ninth. The 26-year-old gave up a three-run shot to CJ Stubbs with two outs to tie up the game at five. The Astros had a chance to win it with the bases loaded, pocket Justin Courtney eventually got the final out to preserve the tie.
Highlights
What’s next
The Mets have a few World Baseball Classic exhibitions coming up but their next official spring game will be hosting the Astros on Friday at 1:10 pm