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.