Jacob deGrom pitched four innings of one run baseball and Dominic Smith, Pete Alonso, and Francisco Lindor all homered to lead the New York Mets to an 8-3 win over the Houston Astros at Clover Park on Tuesday afternoon.
In his third start of spring training, deGrom continued to look sharp, striking out the first two batters he faced. Despite giving up a solo home run to shortstop Jeremy Pena in the third inning to give the Astros a 1-0 lead, he was dominant in his outing. He finished the day with two hits, one earned run and six strikeouts. Over nine innings pitched this spring, deGrom has given up three hits, one run, one walk, and struck out 16.
Smith had a chance to potentially rob the Pena home run during the top half of the third inning, but the wind just carried it over his glove and out of the park. He did, however, make up for the earned run by blasting a three-run home run of his own in the bottom half of the inning, driving in Kevin Pillar and Lindor to put the Mets up 3-1.
The Mets maintained the lead until the bottom of the fifth when Alonso blasted a solo home run to left field.
Mets’ relief pitcher Dellin Betances once again got in a jam during his outing in the sixth inning. He allowed a bloop two-RBI double to Taylor Jones that dropped between Brandon Nimmo and Jeff McNeil.
But the Mets, who held a 4-3 lead going into the bottom of the sixth, were not done scoring. Nimmo reached on an infield single to first and J.D. Davis scored on a throwing error by first basemen Alexander De Goti. Davis was very aggressive on the base paths and would have been called out at third without the error from Jones’ replacement. Lindor followed up the play with a home run of his own — his first as a New York Met — that sailed 413 feet to right field. The run was the Mets’ fourth against Astros pitcher Jairo Solis.
The scoring was not done in the sixth, as McNeil notched a double to deep right in the bottom of the seventh to score Mallex Smith, who replaced Alonso after reaching first and stealing a base.
The Mets will look to stay on track when they face the Miami Marlins at 1:05 p.m. at Roger Dean Chevrolet Stadium. Â
(Photo: Corey Sipkin/NY Post)