What is the story about?
In
the home game of the split squad games, the Astros beat the Mets 7-5.
- Jonah Tong had a rough second inning today in Port St. Lucie. Zach Cole led off with a triple and then scored on a balk by Tong. That was the hardest contact of the inning for Tong, but two pops fell in for singles, and both scored when Nick Allen drove them in. All of a sudden it was 3-0.
- Tong settled in after that, allowing just two more hits in his two and a third additional innings of work. His final line was: 4.1 innings pitched, 6 hits, three earned runs, five strikeouts, and no walks.
- AJ Solgado replaced Mike Tauchman in right field in the fifth (possibly due to injury?), and led off with a triple. He scored on a Francisco Alvarez single to put the Mets on the board.
- In the sixth, Bo Bichette and Jorge Polanco singled, and Brett Baty walked, loading the bases for Marcus Semien. Semien doubled to left field, clearing the bases and putting the Mets up 4-3. Salgado singled in Semien to add the fifth run of the afternoon.
- Ofreidy Gómez, Daniel Duarte, and Joe Jacques all pitched scoreless outings.
- Ryan Lambert entered in the eighth and things did not go very well. A hit batsman, a walk, and a three-run home run by Christian Walker put the Astros back up 6-5. After another walk and a wild pitch, Lambert was out, relieved by Aaron Rozek. Unfortunately, James Nelson singled in the inherited runner, aided by a throwing error by Jorge Polanco, and the Mets were down 7-5.
In the away game of the split squad games, the Mets lost to the Nationals 3-1.
- Joander Suarez started for the Mets and looked really great, tossing four scoreless innings, allowing just one hit and one walk, while striking out three.
- Will Watson followed Suarez, allowing just two hits and no walks with one strikeout over three innings.
- Neither team got on the board until the eighth, when Mark Vientos hit a solo home run to put the Mets up 1-0.
- Sam Brown and Kervin Pichardo hit back to back doubles off of Matt Turner to tie the game 1-1 in the bottom of the eighth.
- The game ended when Dakota Hawkins surrendered a two-run home run to Joey Wiemer in the ninth to put the game away, with the Nationals winning 3-1.
The Mets play their final game of the spring tomorrow at 1:10pm tomorrow against the Marlins.
