New York Mets lose 3-4 to St. Louis Cardinals in Grapefruit League encounter - MLB Update
Starter Dillon Gee allows ten hits as his club New York Mets lose 3-4 to St. Louis Cardinals on March 30, 2012 at Roger Dean Stadium in Jupiter, Florida during their Grapefruit League contest.
First two innings of the game were scoreless before Mets recorded one run lead in the third. As Cardinals beat the lead immediately in fourth, they will strengthen it further in six with two more runs. Mets did shake Cardinals a little with two runs in eight,
latter remained one run ahead until the end.
With regular season just few days away and Mets’ starter Gee losing momentum after one inning, they cannot afford the same in regular season.
Part of his struggle on the mound can be attributed to massive six innings he pitched. He gave up four earned runs, including a homer and took three strike-outs.
"Today was really weird," Gee said. "I felt awesome in the 'pen, felt pretty good in the first inning, then I kind of lost it after that. I feel like I was struggling and battling myself the whole game."
Infielder Vinny Rottino had four at-bats and two hits along with one RBI for Mets.
On his first outing after injury, David Wright, third baseman, had impressed manager with his controlled swinging on the plate. Since then, he has struggled to find connections as he faced three at-bats and hit none.
While Mets did not have much to take into the season, Cardinals’ starter Kyle Lohse provided his side a reason to feel great.
He stood on the mound six innings and while conceding no earned run, he struck-out seven and walked one. His focus never derailed until the last throw and thus the Mets will not go past the lead as long as he was on the mound.
"I felt good out there," said Lohse. "It was a nice way to wrap up spring training, using all my pitches to get some good bad swings. Overall I felt strong."
Mets were not entirely bad and generated few valuable hits and walks. Only area they struggled in was their inability to witness quick inning finish-offs from their starter and they will be trying to address this in upcoming games.
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