Mets Top Tigers But Fall To Cardinals In Split-Squad Games
PORT ST. LUCIE, Fla. (CBSNewYork/AP) — Bartolo Colon allowed one run over three innings in his exhibition season debut, Lucas Duda and Neil Walker homered and a Mets split squad beat the Detroit Tigers 7-3 Monday.
Colon, a 42-year-old portly right-hander, gave up four hits, struck out two and walked none.
In his second spring training outing for Detroit, former Met Mike Pelfrey allowed three runs — two earned — and three hits in 2 1/3 innings.
Asdrubal Cabrera's two-run single and Yoenis Cespedes' RBI single in the third gave the Mets a 3-1 lead.
Casey McGehee and James McCann had run-scoring singles for the Tigers.
New York relievers Antonio Bastardo and Jeurys Familia each pitched a scoreless inning. Familia, the Mets' closer, made his first game appearance since the World Series.
Detroit third baseman Nick Castellanos made a throwing error in the third and left one inning later because of back tightness.
CARDINALS 9, METS 4
Meanwhile in Jupiter, Florida, Cardinals ace Adam Wainwright struggled with his focus in his first start since last April and Matt Holliday made his professional debut at first base.
Wainwright walked three in two scoreless innings. He gave up two hits and struck out two.
"It was clear to me mid-first inning that my focus was not honed enough, that I was sort of soft focusing instead of hard focusing on a small target — aim small, miss small-type stuff," Wainwright said. "I was kind throwing to a general area instead of throwing to a precise spot."
Wainwright tore his Achilles tendon while running out of the batter's box on April 25. He returned from the disabled list late last season but only pitched in relief. By making his first Grapefruit League start in this game, he's on pace to pitch the opener on April 3.
Holliday made his spring debut and neatly blocked a pickoff throw from Wainwright that bounced. The veteran left fielder spent the early part of camp learning to play first base, though the Cardinals don't expect to use him much there this year.
Holliday had been scheduled to make his debut on Saturday but was scratched from that start because of back stiffness. He was originally slated to DH on Monday before playing four innings and going hitless in both at-bats.
Mets starter Steven Matz breezed through the first two innings before allowing a run in the third. He struck out the side in the second on only 12 pitches.
"I was just worried about making pitches," said Matz, who went 4-0 with a 2.27 ERA in six starts as a rookie last season. "The strikeouts, I wasn't really thinking about them. They just come sometimes. It felt good to definitely get a couple of those."
The Cardinals scored five times in the fifth for a 6-1 lead. Stephen Piscotty drove in his second run of the game with a single and Jedd Gyorko added a two-run double, his second hit of the day.
Danny Muno hit an RBI single in the Mets third.
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