Mets 9 – Expos 5
VIERA, Fla. – Maybe the decision was becoming too easy.
After four innings last night, Grant Roberts had essentially made the Mets’ choice for them. That fifth starter competition? Over. Those four other candidates for the spot? Moot.
Roberts was cruising, mowing down Expo hitters with a cool efficiency and rendering his own verdict in the spring’s most intriguing race.
Then came the fifth inning. And the sixth. And by the time Roberts left the mound in the Mets’ 9-5 win, that fifth starter competition was still very much alive.
“It’s tough. I’m definitely disappointed,” Roberts said after allowing five runs and seven hits in 5 1/3 innings. “A few outs away from having a really good outing to now a bad one.”
It was almost stunning how quickly things turned for Roberts, who entered last night as the favorite for the job and threatened to turn the competition into a no-brainer with the way he opened the game.
Throwing more four-seamers and trying to pick up his velocity slightly, Roberts stymied the Expos, holding them hitless over the first four innings. He was sharp, he was economical, he was everything the Mets were looking for.
But the Expos began figuring out Roberts in the fifth, as the second and third times through the lineups, they were the ones who made the adjustments. Over the next two frames, eight of the 12 batters who faced Roberts reached base and five of them scored.
It was an ominous sign considering that, as a starter, Roberts will obviously be expected to pitch five innings or more. Still, he insisted he didn’t tire as the night wore on.
“I still felt strong,” said Roberts, whose ERA jumped from 1.93 to 3.72.
Scouts this spring have raved about how Roberts has gone from a power pitcher to a man who’s learned how to pitch. And the way he began last night was a perfect example of his newfound maturity.
“Early on I had a good cutter and good sinker,” Roberts said, “working both sides of the plate.”
So what happens now to the fifth starter’s race? Well, today the Mets will likely narrow their five candidates, as with less than two weeks till Opening Day, innings are becoming scarce. Manager Art Howe said the decision will be made “probably within the next week.”
Asked if this outing hurt Roberts’ chances, Howe said, “Not in my mind.”
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Grant Roberts’ spring-training numbers:
G – IP – ER – H – BB – SO – W-L – ERA
5 – 19.1 – 8 – 17 – 9 – 16 – 1-0 – 3.72