In an Opening Day preview, the Mets beat the Houston Astros, 8-2, with timely hitting and excellent pitching on Wednesday night.
Here are the takeaways…
-With the start of the regular season drawing near, manager Carlos Mendoza, in an away game, didn’t hold any punches with his lineup that featured starters and likely starters and could potentially be New York’s Game 1 lineup when these two teams meet in Houston next Thursday.
-Among the likely starters, with Jeff McNeil starting the season on the IL, is Brett Baty who batted eighth and played second base. The 25-year-old has been stellar with the bat this spring and continued to impress Wednesday night with a 2-for-3 performance, including a triple and a double, and added an RBI and run scored. He is now up to .333 with his batting average to go along with a 1.010 OPS.
In the field, Baty made all three plays his way, including a diving stop to his right on a sharply hit ball by Yordan Alvarez before firing from one knee to get the out at first. The former third baseman has looked shaky at times at second base, but he looked the part on Wednesday as he gets more comfortable with his super-utility role, which certainly makes him more valuable to the team.
–David Peterson made his fourth appearance and third start this spring and the lefty picked up right where he left off, going five scoreless innings. He now has a 0.57 ERA (0.89 WHIP) in 15.2 innings after having the best season of his career in 2024 (10-3, 2.90 ERA in 21 starts).
The 6-foot-6, 240-pounder allowed just two hits, walked three and struck out four on 75 pitches (42 strikes). Aside from Clay Holmes, Peterson has had the most impressive camp and figures to be a big weapon for New York again in 2025.
–Edwin Diaz entered the game in the sixth inning after Peterson and managed to get through the inning unscathed despite allowing two hits. Ryne Stanek looked great in his inning of work, striking out two, but it was A.J. Minter who had a rough outing. Making his third appearance of the spring, the left-hander allowed two runs on two hits, including a home run, and walked one. He also struck out two. They were the first runs allowed by Minter this spring.
Reed Garrett finished things off in the ninth and struck out the side.
-Scuffling a bit at the plate, Pete Alonso hit his first spring training home run this season in the sixth inning off former Met Miguel Castro who had just entered the game. The three-run bomb to left field got out in a hurry and broke the game open, making it 7-0. Alonso finished 1-for-4 with a walk.
Before that, the Mets’ offense had scored four times thanks to shoddy play by Houston’s defense. The first run came on a wild pitch in the third inning before a second run came around to score on Juan Soto‘s sacrifice fly, which was also an error by Jose Altuve in left field as the experiment of the former second baseman in the outfield continues to leave much to be desired.
New York scored another run in the fifth inning after Brandon Nimmo took advantage of a two-out error by third baseman Isaac Paredes, hitting an RBI double to score Mark Vientos.
-The Mets banged out 12 hits with Baty, Nimmo and Tyrone Taylor each getting two hits apiece.
Highlights
Two strikeouts in the first two innings for David Peterson! pic.twitter.com/6yQ7BHrZGr
— SNY (@SNYtv) March 19, 2025
Brett Baty doubles to right field! pic.twitter.com/x9QAS92OO6
— SNY (@SNYtv) March 19, 2025
Juan Soto hits a sacrifice fly leading to fielding error, bringing in Brett Baty for another run! pic.twitter.com/JxB2jRiH04
— SNY (@SNYtv) March 19, 2025
Brett Baty makes the diving grab and throw for the out 🔥 pic.twitter.com/H6M1r7DKTl
— SNY (@SNYtv) March 19, 2025
PETE ALONSO THREE-RUN HOMER! pic.twitter.com/eqrrcqswAF
— SNY (@SNYtv) March 19, 2025
What’s next
The Mets face the Washington Nationals on the road on Thursday night. First pitch is scheduled for 6:05 p.m.
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