Opening Day has come and gone for the New York Mets, and they will stroll away today with the rare first-game loss.
The first inning kicked off with some excitement as Juan Soto notched his first ever hit in a Mets uniform. Pete Alonso then followed it up with a very impressive 6-pitch walk, but neither of them were able to cross the plate as Mark Vientos and Brandon Nimmo hit into quick outs to end the rally.
Clay Holmes had a very nice first inning as he showcased his devastating Sweeper in just the first at bat as he had Jose Altuve flailing in the box to tally his first strikeout as a Met. He was able to retire the Astros in his inaugural inning smoothly, but unfortunately was met with some struggles in the second inning.
Got into some early trouble in the inning thanks to an unlucky sinker that did not break inside but instead struck Jeremy Pena on the hand. Spring standout and top prospect, Cam Smith, then struck the first major league pitch he ever saw to the opposite field for a single. Holmes was facing trouble in a matter of two pitches, but he settled in and got a crucial ground ball and another big strikeout of Altuve to limit the damage to just 1 run.
The third inning brought some more misfortune for Holmes as his overall lack of control put some runners on base and Houston was just very simply able to capitalize on the opportunity. The inning started with a 4-pitch walk of Isaac Paredes. A dominant strikeout of Yordan Alvarez was then immediately erased with a base hit from Christian Walker and a Yainer Diaz RBI single on the first pitch of his at bat. The inning should have ended right after this as Jeremy Pena hit into what seemed like a routine double play, but that went awry thanks to a throwing error by Luisangel Acuna. This botched play allowed the third run of the game to cross the plate for the Astros.
The fourth inning began with Holmes’ fourth strikeout but was again followed by two straight hard-hit singles up the middle courtesy of Jake Meyers and Jose Altuve. This seemed to be a growing theme at this point for Clay as he showed signs of dominance but could not string together a streak of it. The stuff was there, but the inconsistency of results doomed him early as his pitch count rose quickly, and the bullpen started getting loose at this point.
However, I need to highlight how the fourth inning ended. With two runners on base and 1 out, Isaac Paredes hit a hard grounder to Vientos at third. Vientos fielded the short hop and tossed a low throw to Acuna at second who was forced to scoop it up for the out. He then launched it errantly again to Alonso who lunged his body out to make a diving scoop and cap the double play. Pardon the redundancy of the word “Scoop” but there were legitimately three scoops on one play.
Clay Holmes could not get past the 5th inning as the incredibly tight strike zone continued to kill him. After 4.2 innings, Carlos Mendoza saw enough and replaced him with Huascar Brazoban to limit the damage of a 2-out walk drawn by Yainer Diaz.
Holmes departed with 4 strikeouts and 2 earned runs, but his box score line was certainly highlighted by the 4 walks, 5 hits allowed, and the HBP. You cannot allow 10 runners in less than 5 innings and expect success. The control was a significant bottleneck for Holmes today and it doomed his outing.
His pitches had a ton of movement, and some pitches were too good to be called a strike. He was painting the inside and upper parts of the zone very tightly and many calls did not go his way. He showed that his movement will be his key to this season as he has a variety of put-away pitches to unleash.
His intense movement got him some big outs but did lead to overall command issues. Creating deep counts often and having them result in walks or singles led to early struggles. He did throw 89 pitches which was certainly a step forward in his goal of stretching out more and more as a starter, however.
Huascar Brazoban forced a quick and efficient out to bail out Holmes in the 5th inning and stayed in to work through a solid 6th and 7th inning. He struck out two, walked one and allowed just 1 hit to limit minor damage in his 2.1 innings of work. Framber Valdez was a different story here today though.
Valdez tossed 7 scoreless innings with 4 strikeouts and clutch pitching to get out of a few troubled innings. The Cy-Young Award candidate kicked off his campaign in a very strong way and took the wind right out the Mets’ sails all day long.
Bryan Abreu relieved him in the 8th inning and after retiring the first two Mets hitters, he walked three straight batters and had the Mets on the verge of making a dent. However, he had Brandon Nimmo fooled enough to earn the third out of the inning and escape trouble.
Josh Hader entered in the 9th inning to close the door for Houston and found himself in hot water quickly. Starling Marte and Tyrone Taylor each hit a single and Luisangel Acuna grinded out a super impressive 12-pitch walk to load the bases with no outs. Hayden Senger made his MLB debut in this moment (no pressure!) and quickly struck out as he was no match for Hader.
Enter the top of the order.
Down by 3. Bases Loaded. 1 Out. A moment you dream of in your backyard as a kid.
Francisco Lindor was able to get the Mets on the board with a sac fly. Juan Soto then had a chance to do the coolest thing ever in his first game as a Met. Two runners on base while trailing by 2 runs.
He worked a full count against Hader but ultimately fell short as he struck out to end the game. It was a valiant effort by the Mets at the end of the game, but nothing evaded them more today than “The Big Hit.”
New York falls to Houston 3-1 in the first game of the season.
There were, however, some positives here for the Metropolitans. Huascar Brazoban and Danny Young combined for 3.1 scoreless innings as a strong relief effort kept them in the game when they were starting to wake up a bit offensively. The bats were dead for most of the game, but Juan Soto and Pete Alonso more than showed up. Soto walked twice after poking a single through the middle of the infield in his first at bat.
Pete Alonso has me excited at the start of this season. Pete went 1-2 with a single and two walks, and in his 4 plate appearances he saw 19 total pitches. He had three at bats today where he saw 6 pitches and the only other appearance was a 1-pitch single to the opposite field.
When Pete is seeing the ball very well, he works out deep counts (three full counts today) and he pokes singles to right field. This is typically a precursor to a massive power surge and that would just be a phenomenal way to start off the 2025 season for him.
Mets fans love to internalize every loss as the end of the world, but the reality is that this game was closer than it seemed. They were able to threaten late in the game against two of the best relievers in baseball. Plate discipline seems to be solid across the entire lineup and that will be crucial to bouncing back from this loss.
The Mets go to battle again tomorrow in Houston at 8:10 pm.
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