Sean Manaea tosses four scoreless innings, Francisco Lindor hits first homer of spring in Mets' 9-3 win over Cardinals
The Mets were clicking on all cylinders Saturday, totaling 15 hits in a 9-3 win over the St. Louis Cardinals.
Here are some takeaways...
- Francisco Lindor opened the game with a bang, crushing his first home run of the spring off former Met Steven Matz to give New York a 1-0 lead. Mark Vientos doubled with two outs and then came around to score on Ji-Man Choi's ground-rule double. Brett Baty made it a 3-0 game, driving in Choi with a single to left field.
- Sean Manaea got the start for the Mets and tossed a 1-2-3 inning thanks to a strikeout and double play. The left-hander recorded back-to-back strikeouts in the top of the second, and then got a lineout to close the frame after a walk and single. He continued to cruise through the third, letting up a single and a walk, and getting three flyouts.
Manaea struck out two more Cardinals in the fourth en route to another 1-2-3 inning. He finished the day after 61 pitches over four scoreless innings, allowing just two hits with three walks and five strikeouts.
- Omar Narvaez was hit by a pitch to lead off the second inning and would advance to third after a Joey Wendle single and a wild pitch. Lindor drove in Narvaez to make it 4-0 on a sacrifice fly.
- Sean Reid-Foley replaced Manaea on the mound in the bottom of the fifth and made quick work of the Cards by tossing a 1-2-3 inning of his own. Nate Lavender came in for relief in the sixth and struck out the side, including stars Paul Goldschmidt and Nolan Arenado. The 24-year-old LHP has struck out seven of the nine batters he's faced in three innings this spring, but was reassigned to minor league camp Friday.
- Choi picked up his third hit of the day in the eighth, as he finished the game an impressive 3-for-3 with a walk, RBI, and run scored. He's now batting .357 with a 1.214 OPS over 14 at-bats in eight games.
Yohairo Cuevas pinch-ran for Choi and advanced to third on Baty's double to center. Simon Juan drove in both runners on a single to make it a 6-0 game. JT Schwartz pinch-hit for Brandon Nimmo with runners on the corners and singled to right, giving NY a 7-0 lead. Omar De Los Santos then tacked on another run for the Mets with an RBI single of his own.
22-year-old William Lugo came to the plate in the top of the ninth for the first time during spring training and hit a solo home run to make it a 9-0 game. Juan then recorded his second hit of the day to go 2-for-2. His two singles clocked in at 106.8 and 105.9 MPH off the bat, SNY's The Mets Pod co-host Joe DeMayo noted.
- Baty and Vientos had nearly identical days at the plate. Baty went 2-for-4 on the day with a double, run scored and RBI, while Vientos went 2-for-4 with a double, run scored, and a strikeout.
- Hunter Parsons allowed four hits in the ninth, including two home runs that got the Cardinals on the board with three runs.
Highlights
Upcoming schedule
The Mets return to Port St. Lucie to face the Detroit Tigers on Sunday at 1:10 p.m. on SNY.
Adrian Houser will take the mound for New York, looking to rebound after his last start on March 3 when he gave up three runs in 1.2 IP.
