MMO Game Thread: Cardinals vs Mets, 6:10 PM
Jim Rassol-USA TODAY Sports
Saturday, March 25, 2023 • 6:10 PM
Clover Park • Port St. Lucie, Florida
RHP Andre Pallante (0-0, 0.00) vs. RHP Tylor Megill (1-1, 3.00)
WPIX
The Mets were firing on all cylinders on Friday. On Saturday, they look to keep that going and bring that momentum into the regular season which is less than a week away!
Max Scherzer tossed 100 pitches on Friday, allowing two runs on four hits and striking out 11 batters, including striking out the side to end his outing. The bullpen behind him all tossed scoreless outings, allowing only two hits while striking out three batters.
The bats also came out with Francisco Lindor and Pete Alonso each collecting two hits and racking up a combined five RBIs. Omar Narváez also joined in the fun, collecting two hits and hitting his first homer of the spring. The Mets bats and arms will take on the Cardinals on Saturday in what is their penultimate spring training game.
Mets Lineup
Last Spring Saturday. #LGM pic.twitter.com/GmANm8YcUR
— New York Mets (@Mets) March 25, 2023
Opposing Lineup
More baseball! pic.twitter.com/5cjPvX1Uoo
— St. Louis Cardinals (@Cardinals) March 25, 2023
Game Notes
Today’s Scheduled Pitchers: RHP Tylor Megill, LHP David Peterson.
Happy 68th Birthday to former Met Lee Mazzilli!
The Mets have signed RHP Dylan Bundy to a minor-league contract. Bundy was with the Baltimore Orioles with Mets manager Buck Showalter. Bundy has appeared in 190 career games and owns a 54-65 record with a 4.74 career ERA. He went 8-8 with a 4.89 ERA with the Minnesota Twins in 2022.
Former Mets pitchers Al Leiter and John Franco will be in camp from March 27.
RHP Tommy Hunter will be on the Opening Day roster for the Mets, according to Anthony DiComo of MLB.com. Hunter has had a strong spring, not allowing a run in 8.0 innings while recording nine strikeouts.
With Saturday’s game the penultimate spring training contest for the Mets, the matchup against the Cardinals will be all about fine-tuning and ironing out the final kinks ready for Opening Day next week.
Three Things To Watch For
- Rotation Battle: It looks like one of David Peterson or Tylor Megill will be the second starter on the team, breaking up Scherzer and Verlander and making sure that Verlander starts the home opener. Today will be the second turn in the rotation where both pitchers are expected to make an extended appearance. Last time, Peterson entered the game with eight scoreless innings in spring, while Megill had one earned run in basically the same stretch. Peterson turned in an additional four scoreless innings while Megill struggled a bit, allowing six runs, only three earned, over 2 2/3 innings. We will see this roster battle live on Saturday!
- Finding Nimmo: Nimmo returns to the lineup after a scary injury. Only a few days after Edwin Díaz went down, Nimmo slid into second awkwardly. He was down for about a minute or two and concerns were that he had a similar injury. He was diagnosed with low grade sprains in his right knee and right ankle and was considered week to week, putting Opening Day in doubt. A couple of days ago he played in a minor league game and hit a triple. We’ll get the sense on Saturday if he’s good to go, or not, for Opening Day.
- Opening Day Lineup? Saturday’s lineup is incredibly close to the Opening Day lineup. We finally see the return of Jeff McNeil, playing in his first spring training game since the World Baseball Classic. There are two reasons why this may not actually be the Opening Day lineup. Most likely, Omar Narváez will be the Opening Day catcher. He did catch Scherzer on Friday. Tomás Nido, however, is having an amazing spring training. Then there’s Brett Baty. Does he still have time to win the job from Eduardo Escobar? Can Escobar show on Saturday that he should start the season at third?
Let’s go Mets!
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