Mauricio Unloads In Mets’ 6-3 Spring Victory Over Nationals
Ronny Mauricio. Photo via Ed Delaney, MMO
The New York Mets (2-1) welcomed the Washington Nationals to Clover Park in St. Lucie, FL for the team’s third spring training game of the season. With Max Scherzer making his first start of spring, and a lineup and group of pitchers littered with mostly MLB players, New York got their second win of the spring, 6-3.
Max Scherzer started the game and threw the first two innings. He had a long second inning which inflated his pitch count to 43 on the day. He finished with five strikeouts and allowed three hits and one run.
The Mets’ offense finally broke through in the fourth innings against Nationals’ pitcher Tommy Romero for two runs to take the lead. Mark Canha lined a ball down the right-field line for a double. Then, after a Francisco Lindor walk, Daniel Vogelbach lined a 98.6-MPH double off the wall that brought each of them home.
After hitless innings by Brooks Raley and Tommy Hunter, Elieser Hernández (2.0 IP, 3 H, 1 ER, 2 BB, 1 SO) allowed a run.
Mark Vientos, who played the game at first base, gave the Mets the lead in the seventh innings. To set the table, Tommy Pham walked and Alex Ramírez (Pham’s pinch runner) came home, from first base, on Vientos’ 109.8 MPH line-drive double.
Long shot out of the park for Mauricio! pic.twitter.com/5WjUFvo1BY
— Metsmerized Online (@Metsmerized) February 26, 2023
The Mets’ final runs of the game came in the eighth inning. First, Ronny Mauricio hit a tank off Anthony Castro. The six-foot-three top prospect’s home run was registered at 110 MPH off the bat and went 450 feet. DJ Stewart then added a two-out, two-run single to score the Mets’ fifth and sixth runs of the game.
To finish up the game on the mound, Sam Coonrod struck out two in a scoreless seventh inning and John Curtiss struck out two in a hitless inning. Manuel Alvarez pitched the ninth inning and allowed one run. In aid to Alvarez, top prospect Kevin Parada threw out a runner trying to steal second base to end the game.
Ronny Mauricio. Photo via Ed Delaney, MMO
Player of the Game: Ronny Mauricio
Mauricio did not enter the game until the seventh inning, but in his first at-bat he made his presence felt. He hit a 450-foot bomb that left the bat at 110 MPH. Mauricio also started a “6-4-3” double play in the ninth inning.
Mauricio, who is MMO’s number-six prospect, flashed his raw power via 26 home runs in Double-A last year. He also had a terrific winter ball season in the Dominican Republic. Nice to see that power on display once again this spring.
On Deck:
The Mets travel to Jupiter, Florida to take on the St. Louis Cardinals Monday at 1:05 PM. The game will be nationally televised on ESPN. David Peterson is expected to start the game for New York.
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