Spring Training Baseball: Early Runs Power Mets Victory Over Red Sox
The New York Mets defeated the Boston Red Sox 3-2 today (Friday).
The Mets didn’t take long to score in their first spring training game of the season. New York scored one run in each of the first three innings.
In the top of the first inning for the Mets, Juan Lagares walked and later scored on a fielder’s choice groundout by Wilmer Flores to Red Sox third baseman Josh Rutledge.
New York then got their power hitting going.
In the second inning, Gavin Cecchini homered on a fly ball to left field off Boston’s left-handed starter Henry Owens. In the third inning, Michael Conforto homered to right field off Red Sox right-hander Kyle Kendrick.
Michael Conforto and Travis d’Arnaud each had two hits for the Mets.
Meanwhile, Boston scored their only runs in the bottom of the seventh on a two-run home run by Brian Bogusevic.
At the start of the inning, the Red Sox got their first hit of the game when Hanley Ramirez doubled on a line drive to right field off New York left-handed reliever Josh Edgin. Blake Swihart then pinch ran for Ramirez and scored two batters later on Bogusevic’s shot over the right field fence.
Outside of the scoring, the major storyline of the game was that Mets pitchers only allowed the Red Sox to get two hits in the entire game.
Right-handed pitcher Seth Lugo got the start for New York and he threw two innings, gave up zero runs and hits, walked two batters and struck out three.
The most dominant pitching performance by a Mets pitcher has to go to right-handed pitcher Marcos Molina. He pitched two innings and did not allow a Boston batter to reach base. Corey Taylor and Hansel Robles also had great outings, each retiring all three hitters they faced including striking out one.
Red Sox pitchers were overwhelmingly successful in striking out Mets batters. Boston had sixteen strikeouts and six of the seven Red Sox pitchers had at least two strikeouts.
Owens, the Red Sox starter, led the way for Boston with four strikeouts, but he gave up two runs (both earned), three hits and one walk in two innings of work. Kyle Kendrick had three strikeouts.
The best pitching performances by Boston’s pitchers were by Fernando Abad (5th inning), Noe Ramirez (6th inning) and Kyle Martin (9th inning). Each pitcher struck out two batters and retired all three hitters they faced.
Lugo got the win for the Mets while Owens took the loss for the Red Sox. Robles got the save for the Mets.
The Mets’ next game will be tomorrow (Saturday, February 25th) as they host the Washington Nationals at 1:05 p.m. ET at First Data Field in Port St. Lucie, Florida.
Boston will look to bounce back against the Minnesota Twins tomorrow (Saturday, February 25th) after they defeated the Northeastern University Huskies 9-6 on Thursday. The game will start at 1:05 p.m. ET at JetBlue Park in Fort Myers, Florida, the Red Sox spring training home.
The Twins’ spring training home is also in Fort Myers, but they play their home games at Hammond Stadium.
