Marlins held to just 3 hits in spring loss to Mets
JUPITER, Fla. (AP) -- Matt Harvey cruised through four scoreless innings, and the New York Mets pounded Miami pitching in an 11-0 victory that spoiled Giancarlo Stanton's return to the Marlins' lineup Sunday.
Making his second start of the spring, Harvey felt encouraged that he handled the NL East-rival Marlins, a team that's traditionally given him trouble.
"In the past my track record against Miami hasn't really been that great," said Harvey, who is 2-2 with a 3.48 ERA over the past three years against the Marlins. "It's nice to finally figure them out a little bit."
Harvey allowed one hit and walked two while striking out four, with one of those strikeouts coming on a slider -- a pitch he didn't use much early last year as he returned from Tommy John surgery.
"I was throwing it pretty well today and used all my pitches pretty effectively, so it was a good day," Harvey said.
The right-hander issued one of his walks to Stanton, who was making his first Grapefruit League appearance in more than a week after experiencing knee soreness.
The Marlins originally listed the slugger as their designated hitter, but elected shortly before the first pitch to start him in right field.
"Why not?" Stanton said. "Just sitting and DH is not a good gauge for a situation like that."
Stanton walked leading off the second inning and was thrown out trying to steal second. His second time up, Stanton tapped a check-swing roller a few feet in front of the plate.
The Mets also challenged him in the field. Stanton glided toward the line to easily corral Alejandro De Aza's fly ball to end the second inning.
He couldn't quite cut off Ruben Tejada's RBI triple to right-center in the fourth, allowing the ball to go all the way to the wall. In the fifth, chasing a fly ball by De Aza that got over his head, Stanton slid to the ground on the warning track before popping up to retrieve the ball.
One batter later, Stanton tracked down Juan Lagares' fly at the right-center warning track. He exited after the fifth inning.
"I felt relatively good," Stanton said.
Tejada gave the Mets an early lead with a two-out, two-run double into the left-field corner in the second. Tejada came around to score one batter later on second baseman Dee Gordon's throwing error.
Yoenis Cespedes drove in his fourth run of the spring with a fifth-inning single up the middle that scored De Aza.
STARTING TIME
Making his third spring start for the Marlins, Tom Koehler allowed four runs -- three earned -- on five hits while striking out three. He took his first loss of the spring.
TRAINER'S ROOM
Mets: SS Asdrubal Cabrera returned to camp from New York after receiving a platelet-rich plasma injection in his knee. He is expected to be sidelined for the next two weeks.
Marlins: Miami gave corner infielder Chris Johnson another day off as he deals with back soreness.
UP NEXT
Monday marks the Marlins' lone off day during the Grapefruit League schedule. They return to the field Tuesday, when the Mets will once again be in Jupiter.
The Mets travel to Lakeland to face Detroit on Monday.
