Rick Porcello’s first game for the Mets at Citi Field was quiet enough until he hung up a slider in the fourth inning on Saturday.
The masked Clint Frazier crushed him on the second deck in left field, a thunderous two-run blast that essentially defined Porcello’s night. The right-handed pitcher lasted until the fifth inning and was the losing pitcher in the Mets’ 9-3 exhibition loss to the Yankees.
Porcello’s night consisted of 68 pitches in five innings in which he allowed three earned runs on six hits with three strikeouts and one walk. Porcello then threw 20 additional pitches in the bullpen to increase his count for the season.
In the fourth, Porcello doubled Giancarlo Stanton and recorded two outs before Frazier broke a slider on the first pitch of his at-bat, which quickly disappeared in the second deck to the left.
“I was able to cover five innings relatively efficiently, obviously the slider to Frazier was not where I wanted it to be, so definitely a release that I would like to have there,” Porcello said. “I think for the most part how things worked, I felt pretty solid. A couple of things I can be a little bit better at, getting a little ahead of the hitters, getting more leads from the start, but other than that, seeing the men in a new uniform in a couple of months, so I felt pretty good. “
Porcello allowed 31 home runs for the Red Sox last season, a significant factor in the 5.52 ERA that was the worst of his career. He came to the Mets with a $ 10 million, one-year contract last winter and will be counting on him, along with another new addition, Michael Wacha, to anchor the middle end of the rotation.
It is unclear where Porcello will be located in the rotation. Beyond wanting to pitch Jacob deGrom on opening day against the Braves on Friday, manager Luis Rojas has not started launch plans. DeGrom is slated to release a simulated game on Sunday that will determine his availability for the first game after leaving his last start, in intrasquad scrimmage, after just one inning due to back strain.
Rojas said Porcello may be able to launch a preseason finish on Thursday.
“I thought he threw the ball well,” said Rojas.
Porcello’s slider was effective from the start as he used it on strikeouts for Gio Urshela, Frazier and Mike Ford. The Yankees had scored a run against Porcello in the first inning with Gleyber Torres’ RBI single from Robinson Cano’s glove.
“I think we could have fallen into a little pattern tonight, but [the slider] It’s a release that I need, “Porcello said.” That’s a release that I struggled with a bit last year, so to get out there and launch it and get the results I want and keep releasing it and trust it, I need to do that. “
“I definitely have other weapons I can mix, but for the most part other than the one I threw at Frazier I felt pretty good about it and got a good swing and glitches, and some weak contact.”
Jeurys Familia was strong in 1² / entradas innings in which he allowed just one run not won, after two shooting errors from third baseman Max Moroff. Edwin Díaz was charged with two runs (one of which was not won due to an error by Luis Guillorme) and the Yankees joined left-hander Daniel Zamora, who allowed three runs with four hits.
With fans absent from the stadium due to coronavirus restrictions, Porcello says he adjusted to serenity.
“It was definitely different, just walking into the bullpen and there are no fans in the stands and it’s quiet,” said Porcello. “It just isn’t something we’re used to. After the first few minutes, you do it. “
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