PORT ST. LUCIE, Fla. -- Bartolo Colon allowed three homers, four doubles and eight runs in five innings and the New York Mets lost to the Washington Nationals, 12-7, on Friday night at Tradition Field.
Michael Conforto’s grand slam with two outs in the bottom of the ninth capped the scoring.
The Nats’ first four batters of the game reached against Colon. The five-run opening frame included an RBI double by ex-Met Daniel Murphy, who finished 1-for-4.
Colon’s spring-training ERA typically looks unsightly. With the Oakland Athletics, he posted a 5.40 Cactus League ERA in 2012, then a 6.30 ERA in 2013. Since joining the Mets, his Grapefruit League ERAs have stood at 5.28, 7.02 and -- for now -- 10.03 in 2016.
He has posted a 57-41 record and 3.60 ERA in the regular season over the past four years.
“I’m not too worried about it here,” Colon said through an interpreter. “If this were the regular season, I’d be worried. That’s exactly what this is for. It’s for me to really work through those things.”
Manager Terry Collins agreed.
“It’s a spring-training game,” Collins said. “This guy has pitched for 17 years. He’s out there getting his work done, pounding the strike zone. I don’t think he gets too caught up in anything except trying to make sure the ball is sinking. Early in the game it wasn’t. Later in the game it was.
“As he gets up to 90-something pitches, we’ll get a better read. Certainly he’s one of those kind of guys, it’s tough to get a read on where he’s at and what he’s trying to accomplish. But I think it’s nothing more than trying to build up the endurance in his shoulder.”
Colon suggested he was working on his breaking pitches. He struck out five batters -- all looking.
All Wright: David Wright went 2-for-3 and logged five innings at third base in his first 2016 Grapefruit League action. Wright is due to appear in back-to-back games on Sunday and Monday. He may play four straight days the final week of spring training, including the pair of games against the Chicago Cubs in Las Vegas.
“He looked healthy,” Collins said. “We’ve got to get him some more playing time, obviously, so we get a better idea of how he’s going to respond to a lot of innings. But he feels good.”
Out of left field: Juan Lagares, who has not appeared in left field since 2012 with Double-A Binghamton (as well as in winter ball the subsequent offseason), started at the position on Friday. Collins said Lagares could see time in left field with Yoenis Cespedes in center field against left-handed pitching, since it may be beneficial not to move Cespedes around the outfield.
Lagares produced a third-inning solo homer against Felipe Rivero, after Nats highly touted prospect Lucas Giolito contributed two scoreless innings.
Sixth sense: The Nats tacked on four sixth-inning runs against Buddy Carlyle and Zack Thornton. Ex-Met Matt den Dekker had an RBI single in the frame. T.J. Rivera committed a fielding error at second base, which led to two of the runs being unearned. Rivera made some amends with a solo homer in the bottom half of the inning.
What’s next: Matt Harvey opposes right-hander Joe Ross as the Mets visit Viera on Saturday for a 1:05 p.m. ET rematch with the Nationals (WOR).
