The Mets lost to the Cardinals, 6-1, on Tuesday afternoon as their spring training slate continued.
Here are the takeaways…
– Tylor Megill turned in a solid outing, settling down after a first inning where he threw 26 pitches and worked around a two-out walk to pitch a scoreless frame.
He surrendered a leadoff triple in the second inning, and the Cardinals plated a run with a single one out later. After that, Megill got the next four outs in a row to end his day.
Overall, he allowed one run on two hits while walking one and striking out two. Megill threw 47 pitches — 31 for strikes.
Along with Paul Blackburn and Griffin Canning, Megill is fighting for one of the final spots in the starting rotation.
Unlike Blackburn and Canning, Megill has a minor league option remaining, which means the Mets can send him to the minors without running the risk of losing him.
– Brett Baty played second base for the first time at the big league level. He got his first chance in the sixth inning, cleanly fielding a routine grounder off the bat of Jose Fermin that he had to move a few steps to his left for and charge a bit before throwing to first for the out. Baty also handled his only other chance — a grounder in the seventh inning that was hit right at him.
At the plate, Baty finished 1-for-2 with a walk and a run scored. His OPS this spring is 1.333.
– Luisangel Acuña played third base for the first time as a professional, and caught a pop up in the first inning. Acuña also helped execute a pair of rundowns in the sixth inning — one between third base and home plate, and the other between third base and second base. On the only grounder he got, Acuña — who was shaded toward shortstop in the shift — charged in and to his right before gloving the ball and firing to first base on the run to get the final out of the seventh inning.
Acuña went 0-for-3 at the plate as his quiet spring at the dish continued.
– Francisco Alvarez stroked a first-pitch single to right field in his second at-bat against Cards closer Ryan Helsley. He finished 1-for-3.
– Ryne Stanek was impressive during 1.0 perfect inning, needing just 12 pitches to retire the side. He struck out his final batter looking after Alvarez challenged a third-strike pitch that was initially called a ball. Stanek’s fastball topped out at 98 mph, and he also mixed in a bunch of sliders.
– Reed Garrett fired 1.0 perfect frame, striking out the last two batters he faced. Garrett’s fastball reached 97 mph, and he needed just 12 pitches to get through the inning.
Highlights
Upcoming schedule
The Mets are off on Wednesday.
Their schedule resumes on Thursday, when they face the Astros at 6:10 p.m. on SNY.
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