Scherzer Dominates, Alonso Homers in 11-2 Victory Over Rays
Pete Alonso. Photo by Ed Delany of Metsmerized
The Mets traveled to Tropicana Field to take on the Rays Friday afternoon. Max Scherzer got the start for New York in what will be his final appearance before Opening Day. Luis Patiño was the starter for Tampa Bay.
The Mets struck early as a leadoff Luis Guillorme walk and a Francisco Lindor double made it a 1-0 ballgame. Pete Alonso then ambushed Patiño with a base hit on the first pitch he saw, advancing Lindor to third base. A Daniel Vogelbach sacrifice fly then scored Lindor and gave the Mets a 2-0 lead before Scherzer even took the mound.
After an easy first inning, Scherzer appeared to be through an easy second with two outs and nobody on, but he surrendered a walk, a single, and a hit by pitch in consecutive plate appearances to load the bases. Yandy Díaz then hit a blooper that landed in shallow left-center field and the Rays were able to tie the game at two. Scherzer was able to avoid further trouble by getting Wander Franco to ground out to end the inning.
The Mets were able to respond in the top of the third with Guillorme leading off the inning with his second walk of the game. Starling Marte then hit an opposite field double, setting up runners on second and third with nobody out. While Lindor wasn’t able to drive anyone in with a shallow flyout to center field, Alonso cleared the bases in the next at-bat with a strong home run to dead center to retake the lead and make it a 5-2 game.
Pete Alonso’s fourth spring homer gives the Mets a 5-2 lead.
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Not satisfied with a three-run lead, the Mets’ offense continued to produce in the top of the fourth. In consecutive at-bats to start the inning, Tommy Pham grounded a single through the infield, Omar Narváez walked, and Guillorme reached base for the third time in the game with an RBI single that scored Pham. Following a Marte strikeout, Lindor recorded his second RBI hit of the game with a single through the infield to score Narváez and make it 7-2.
In an otherwise mundane sixth inning, Narváez led off the inning by hitting his first home run of the spring. Narváez had been struggling in spring training up to this point, albeit in a small sample size, but with his home run he demonstrated the power he possesses that allowed him to hit 22 home runs in 2019. The Mets will be hoping to see more of that in the regular season after catcher was a position that hurt them offensively last year.
After his shaky second inning, Scherzer was able to settle in against the Rays’ hitters allowing just one baserunner over the next four innings and striking out the side in the bottom of the sixth. Scherzer ended his outing through six innings having thrown 100 pitches, giving up two runs on four hits, a walk, a hit-by-pitch, and striking out 11. In his last outing before Opening Day, Scherzer already appears to be in midseason form.
The offensive onslaught continued for the Mets in the top of the seventh inning as a leadoff Alonso walk and a Darin Ruf single set up an opposite field double for Mark Canha that scored both baserunners, extending the Mets’ lead to eight. An infield single by Eduardo Escobar put runners on the corners with still nobody out and a Danny Mendick ground ball double play scored the runner from third to make it 11-2.
Dennis Santana, Zach Muckenhirn, and Trey McLoughlin pitched the final three innings for the Mets with relative ease, each throwing a scoreless inning and putting the game away for a Mets victory.
After the game, Buck Showalter told reporters that Justin Verlander will start the Mets’ third game of he season which will line him up for the Mets’ home opener. Buck also said he expects Brandon Nimmo to be in the lineup on Saturday.
Players of the Game
Max Scherzer and Pete Alonso both played so well, there can’t just be one player of the game. Scherzer was dominant except for a rocky second inning, recording 11 total strikeouts which, according to Jacob Resnick, is a Mets’ spring training record going back to 2006 when spring training box scores became available.
Alonso went 2-for-3 with a home run, a walk, stolen base, and three RBIs in his four plate appearances. His single in the first inning led to a run as he advanced Lindor to third before he scored on a sacrifice fly. His three-run homer in the third inning, however, was the biggest hit of the game as it broke a 2-2 tie and gave the Mets a lead they would hold on to for the rest of the game.
On Deck
The Mets head back to Clover Park on Saturday to face the Cardinals in their penultimate spring training game. The game is scheduled for 6:10 p.m. EDT and can be watched on WPIX and MLB TV. Tylor Megill gets the start for the Mets.
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