PORT ST. LUCIE — By way of two outings, Clay Holmes’ transition from nearer to starter has been practically flawless.
He tossed three innings Thursday within the Mets’ 5-0 Grapefruit League win over the Astros and gave up no runs, one hit and one stroll with two strikeouts.
He elevated his workload, throwing 42 pitches in comparison with 34 in his first begin as he continues to construct up his endurance.
He threw 17-18 extra pitches within the bullpen afterward.
Holmes has pitched six innings and given up only one hit and one stroll with 5 strikeouts in two begins this spring.
“I feel like I was in a great spot to keep pitching,” Holmes stated. “Even after I finished there, I feel a lot better than I did last time when I finished in the bullpen. I can see that I continue to adjust to the workload. I really feel like things are trending in the right direction.”
Thursday’s exhibiting marked a major step in that course of, as nicely.
His 42 pitches included 20 within the first inning as he labored round a Christian Walker double that basically was only a bloop to proper discipline.
As a better, Holmes not often got here again out after innings wherein he threw numerous pitches.
As a starter, that will probably be required.
And Holmes fared nicely after the heavy first inning, recording a 1-2-3 second inning and retiring six of the following seven Astros batters.
He reached 95 mph in his third inning, although acknowledged he’s nonetheless determining when to not throw his hardest with a purpose to save himself for later innings.
“It’s a very game-like situation, where I have a long first inning, throw [20] pitches and you got 60 pitches to get five or six innings,” Holmes stated. “And just feeling that on your body, it’s new. Feeling that taxing inning and then having to do it time and time again, it’s definitely good to experience.”
Brandon Sproat, the Mets’ prime pitching prospect, will begin Friday’s recreation towards the Nationals.
It’ll be his first outing this spring.
The Mets signed José Ureña as a non-roster invite for potential rotation depth, The Submit’s Jon Heyman reported.
Ureña was with the Rangers final 12 months and recorded a 3.80 ERA.
He spent the primary six years of his profession with the Marlins earlier than stints with the Tigers, Brewers, Rockies and White Sox. He had largely been a starter beforehand, although was used extra as a reliever final 12 months.
Griffin Canning, an choice to earn a spot within the rotation as a consequence of Sean Manaea’s and Frankie Montas’ accidents, made his first outing of the spring and tossed 1 ²/₃ scoreless innings with two strikeouts.
Brett Baty hit his second house run of the spring Thursday and is 6-for-11 on the plate.
