Mets victorious in 12-2 rout of the Braves

Two big innings in the fifth and sixth lifted the Mets to a runaway 12-2 victory over the Braves this afternoon at Champion Stadium. Jacob deGrom looked very ready to start the season, throwing three perfect innings and striking out the side in his final frame.

The Mets put their first run on the board in the first inning, thanks in part to an error by Ozzie Albies. Keon Broxton smacked an RBI double to drive in Pete Alonso to get the Mets on the board. The Mets added a run in the second, but really piled on in the fifth, when they tacked on six runs off Touki Toussaint and Jose Rafael De Paula to make the score 8-0. The six-run frame featured two singles from 17-year-old Ronny Mauricio to bookend the inning, as the Mets batted around before finally being sent back to the dugout. Another crooked number followed in the sixth, as the Mets tacked on four runs Dan Winkler, including Amed Rosario’s second and third RBIs of the afternoon.

The Braves’ only two runs came on two solo homers—one from Ronald Acuna Jr. off Robert Gsellman in the fifth and one from Andy Wilkins in the ninth off Kyle Dowdy. Dowdy, in his final push to make the team after both Hector Santiago and Ryan O’Rourke were reassigned to minor league camp, put in four innings of work, surrendering just the solo homer to Wilkins. At one point Dowdy set down six batters in a row after giving up a leadoff walk—also to Wilkins—to start his afternoon.

Six hitters in the Mets lineup had a multi-hit game and nearly the entire offense contributed to the lopsided win.

Some other highlights from today’s action:

• Pete Alonso and Amed Rosario both continue to rake this spring. Each of them collected three hits on the afternoon and they had four RBIs between them.
• Alonso had a very Alonso-like inning defensively in fifth, where he first let a popup drop between himself and Tomas Nido, but then made a sparkling diving stop on screaming grounder off the bat of Rafael Ortega.
• Keon Broxton and Tomas Nido also collected two hits apiece.
• Getting a start as the designated hitter for the second straight day, Ronny Mauricio continues to establish himself as one of the more exciting young prospects in the organization. In the fifth inning, he singled, stole a base, scored a run, and drove in another run with a single all in the same frame.
• Jeff McNeil and Robinson Cano were the only hitters not to get in on the fun today. Each of them went 0-for-5.
• Seth Lugo faced the minimum in the fourth inning, allowing a one-out single to Dansby Swanson but then inducing a double play grounder from Freddie Freeman to end the inning.

Full box score: MLB.com

The Mets face off against the split squad Nationals at 12:10pm tomorrow afternoon in their penultimate Grapefruit League game.