Thor, Cano lead the Mets to a victory over the Astros, 2-1

The Mets defeated the Astros this afternoon, 2-1, at First Data Field in Port St. Lucie. Before the game, Ron Darling tweeted that he believed that this game may feature the Cy Young award winners from both leagues. While the match up might not have been quite that electric, today’s game was a brisk pitcher’s duel from two of the best in the game.

Noah Syndergaard started for the Mets today, and looked a little wild in the first inning. On the SNY broadcast, Wayne Randazzo mentioned how Syndergaard was trying to work more up in the strike zone, which certainly seemed to be the case, and perhaps led to his less than sharp start to the game. But, after allowing a single and a walk in the first, Snydergaard would allow just two more baserunners - again, on a single and walk - before exiting after five and two-thirds innings.

Robinson Cano got the Mets on the board with an absolutely crushed two-run home run off of Astros starter Gerrit Cole, plating Jeff McNeil and putting the Mets up 2-0 in the bottom of the fourth. That was all the offense the pitching staff would need.

• Cano looked especially smooth in the field, making a couple of very nice plays look very easy.
• One of the many newly minted minor league free agents the Mets brought in, lefty Ryan O’Rourke, relieved Syndergaard to finish off the sixth inning. However, he also started the seventh by giving up two hard hit balls, and left after allowing the Astros to halve the Mets’ lead.
• Pete Alonso just missed an opposite field home run off of Cole when the wind blowing in from right field knocked it down at the warning track. Alonso continues to be quite impressive with the bat this spring.
• Seth Lugo pitched two scoreless innings in relief, not allowing a baserunner and striking out three.

Full box score: MLB.com