The New York Mets beat the St. Louis Cardinals 3-2 to improve their spring training record to 3-3-1.
Jason Vargas made his first start of the spring and allowed a leadoff home run to Matt Carpenter on the second pitch of the game. The left-hander was able to settle down and retired six of the next seven batters he faced while picking up three strikeouts. He allowed just one walk and one hit over two innings of work.
The Mets picked up eleven hits on the afternoon, including Pete Alonso’s opposite-field, two-run single in the top of the fifth to put the team ahead for good. Alonso had two hits in three at-bats and now sports a .417 batting average and 1.250 OPS in five games. Michael Conforto added two hits in four at-bats on the afternoon. The Mets picked up an insurance run in the seventh on a J.D. Davis force out, which plated Braxton Lee with the game-winning run.
- The Mets loaded the bases on three singles in the first inning, but Davis hits into an inning-ending double play.
- Drew Smith came in for the third inning and put runners on first and second. With two outs, Jose Martinez lined a single to left, and Rajai Davis gunned down Carpenter at the plate to prevent the run from scoring.
- Rajai Davis picked up another hit in two at-bats to improve to a .444 batting average and 1.500 OPS on the spring.
- Luis Avilan worked around a single to pitch his second scoreless inning of the spring.
- David Peterson recovered from his disastrous first spring appearance to work a scoreless seventh while striking out two.
Full box score: MLB.com