HOUSTON — It is easy to get wrapped up in the emotions of Opening Day.
After a five-month wait for competitive baseball to return, the first glimpse is often filled with unsubstantiated fervor. So with the newest Mets coming up short front in the team’s 3-1 Opening Day loss to the Astros on Thursday at Daikin Park in Houston, the sky was falling in Flushing.
It ended with Juan Soto, often the Mets’ lone source of offense in Game No. 1, taking a hap-hazard hack at a slider from Astros closer Josh Hader at Daikin Park. Clay Holmes, who dazzled in spring, only lasted 4⅔ innings in his first start in nearly seven years. He was dealt the loss after giving up two earned runs on five hits and four walks.
But many of the best marathoners in the world don’t post the quickest opening mile.
“It’s one game,” Mets manager Carlos Mendoza said, “so we got another one tomorrow.”
Juan Soto’s dissatisfied first impression
Soto was expecting Hader’s best pitch.
After watching three straight balls to open his ninth inning at-bat with the tying run at first base, Soto was content to move the lineup along. But Hader poured in a slider for a strike and Soto fouled off a high sinker out of the zone to work the count full.
Then, the Mets’ superstar outfielder was badly fooled when the Astros closer went back to the breaking ball.
“We all want to do something in a big spot,” Soto said. “We’re all trying to get the knock and try to bring the runs and try to help the team either way, but for me, I don’t mind taking a walk right there. I have Pete (Alonso) behind me and he’s a really good power hitter, so I think we have a good chance there with a lefty-righty matchup. He just got me in that situation.”
The strikeout marred what was one of the Mets’ most productive offensive games at the plate on a day where they did not have much. Soto singled in his first at-bat and added a pair of walks to match Starling Marte with a team-high three total bases. But his final at-bat made the loudest first impression.
“As a competitor, he always wants to come through,” Mendoza said. “I thought he had some good at-bats today. Even on that one, he got him 3-0 and then 3-1, that pitch that he got there, he just missed it and then a pretty good pitch. But he’ll come through.”
Clay Holmes’ opening blip
Holmes spent Opening Day relearning the rigors of the starting pitching position as a member of the Mets.
The Astros did not make Holmes’ adjustment an easy one in his first start since his rookie season in 2018.
Holmes struggled with his sinker command at times on Thursday and had to get to work early in the second after he plunked Jeremy Peña with one out. The Astros’ shortstop was able to move to third base on Cam Smith’s first major league hit.
Then, Holmes loaded the bases with another walk and the opening run scored on a chopper to the left side. The Mets’ righty got out of the jam by fanning Jose Altuve for the second time on a sinker.
The Astros grew their lead to 3-0 in the next inning after Isaac Paredes drew a leadoff walk and moved into scoring position on a single by Christian Walker. Yainer Diaz shot an RBI single up the middle in the next at-bat to make it 2-0.
“Obviously the walks today were not in good times. They were not good walks, none of them really,” Holmes said. “Part of it was there’s a lot of new, maybe I’m thinking a little too much versus just, ‘Let’s get ahead, let’s attack with the sinker.’
“I knew I could get some chase with it, it’s just a fine line of going in the zone and trusting the chase and the right lanes with it.”
A throwing error by Luisangel Acuña added to the Mets’ struggles. The Mets rookie’s off-balance throw wandered wide and ricocheted out of the camera well to allow Walker to score.
Holmes’ day ended with two outs in the bottom of the fifth inning when he issued a walk to Diaz. He threw 89 pitches.
The transition contiunes
It proved to be a rocky debut for Holmes, who signed a three-year, $38 million deal in the offseason to transition from a high-leverage reliever to a starting pitcher.
The spring had brought promise for Holmes, who allowed two earned runs in 19⅓ innings with 23 strikeouts.
After expanding his repertoire to feature a kick changeup and four-seam fastball in Grapefruit League action, Holmes stuck predominantly to his foundation against a lineup with eight right-handed hitters. Holmes threw his sinker and sweeper 79 percent of the time, with the two-seam being deployed nearly half the time.
“If I’m executing my sinker, I feel like it gives me a good chance,” Holmes said. “Maybe the second time through or so, there was some room with the changeups more, but that’s something we’ll have to fill out more and more and kind of learn as we go.”
There’s still a learning curve for Holmes, who has never thrown more than 70 innings in his major league career. And he’s figuring out how to approach the game differently and build up his endurance moving forward.
Now, compared to when he was a reliever, he’ll have several days to tinker, self-assess and build an approach for his new role.
“I think there’s gonna be a lot of growth and learning, especially here early on,” Holmes said. “I think figuring out the things that I really need to nail down, how I want to attack lineups, how I want to use the arsenal, what the prep looks like in between outings, the bullpens, the workload, what feels good, all those types of things. It’s going to be important just to assess and continue to build.”
This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: NY Mets: Juan Soto, Clay Holmes fall short in Opening Day loss
