Mets' Carlos Carrasco Sees Silver Lining After Up-And-Down Grapefruit League Debut

PORT ST. LUCIE -- Although spring training results typically don't matter, Mets manager Buck Showalter said he was hoping to see starting pitcher Carlos Carrasco take a step in his performance in Wednesday evening's exhibition game against the Astros.

But things didn't necessarily go according to plan in this regard.

Carrasco, who is coming back from offseason surgery to remove a bone spur from his right elbow, was up-and-down in his Grapefruit League debut for the Mets. The right-hander tossed four innings on 46 pitches, allowing three runs on six hits, including two home runs, while striking out three and issuing one walk.

Carrasco found himself in a first-and-third jam with one out in the top of the first inning, but was able to induce a 6-4-3 double play to escape trouble.

In his second inning of work, the 35-year-old froze Yordan Alvarez with a four-seam fastball to begin the frame. Carrasco allowed a two-out single, but retired the next batter for another scoreless inning.

However, Carrasco's last two innings of the night didn't go as well. With two outs in the third, Michael Brantley greeted the righty with a two-run blast.

And in the fourth, Alvarez got his revenge on Carrasco, jumping on the same pitch that he previously struck out on earlier in this contest, to launch a long ball into the seats to put the Astros ahead 3-0. Carrasco would bounce-back to pickup two strikeouts in the inning to finish off his night.

In his first outing of the spring, Carrasco surrendered five runs across 3.1 innings in a minor league game last week. He has now allowed eight runs in 7.1 innings during camp.

Regardless, Carrasco was optimistic about his performance as he approaches the end of his second spring training with the Mets. Last year, Carrasco tore his hamstring in his first camp with the team, which knocked him out of play until July 30, so he is happy to be healthy this time around.

"It feels really good," Carrasco said. "I give a lot of credit to those guys that hit the homers. Those were really great pitches. (But) I'm glad that I went out there and feel healthy."

Carrasco wanted to throw two more innings, but was not authorized to do so after going 3.1 innings in a minor league start last week. Instead, he went out to the bullpen and threw 15 additional pitches to reach the 60-pitch mark after exiting this outing.

While Carrasco wasn't spotless, he felt good about his slider and Showalter thought he looked crisp overall. And the most important takeaway is that the projected No. 4 starter in the Mets' rotation looks to be healthy ahead of the regular-season. At this point, he appears to be on track to make his first start against the Nationals in D.C. on April 10 in the Opening series of the 2022 campaign.