Garrett’s outing, Mangum’s catch and more from Marlins’ spring training loss to Mets

In a game that featured few of their expected full-time starters, the Miami Marlins dropped their Grapefruit League opener to the New York Mets, 5-2, on Saturday at Clover Park.

Here are some notables from Saturday’s game.

▪ Braxton Garrett’s first spring start was great ... until it wasn’t . Garrett, who is competing for a spot in the Marlins’ starting rotation, was going up against a Mets lineup that had many of New York’s heavy hitters — including Jeff McNeil, Tommy Pham, Francisco Lindor, Pete Alonso, Eduardo Escobar and Mark Canha in the first six slots of the order.

His first inning was fantastic, retiring McNeil, Pham and Lindor on just seven pitches.

His second inning? Yeah. It didn’t go as well. Garrett gave up two runs on three hits — including a towering Alonso home run to lead off the frame — and needed 23 pitches to get his three outs.

“It was OK,” Garrett said of his outing. “I wasn’t super sharp that second inning.”

Garrett used all of his pitches on Saturday, including 11 sinkers, nine sliders, six four-seam fastballs, two changeups and two curveballs. Both run producing hits in the second inning — Alonso’s home run and an Abraham Almonte hard-hit RBI double — came off sinkers that caught too much of the plate.

In 17 starts last season, Garrett pitched to a 3.58 ERA with 90 strikeouts against 24 walks while holding opponents to a .254 batting average against and 1.25 walks and hits per innings pitched over 88 innings.

He held opponents to three earned runs or fewer while pitching at least five innings in seven of his final 12 starts.

“He has come a long way,” Marlins pitching coach Mel Stottlemyre Jr. said Saturday morning. “He understands that he’s not a rookie where it’s his first time and he’s in survival mode. He has experienced all that so he’s a little more physical. It seems that his stuff has gotten a little crisper. ... Probably the most improved pitcher that we had.”

▪ Outfielder Jake Mangum had the web gem of the game. Mangum, who the Marlins acquired as part of a trade with the Mets this offseason, made a diving grab in center field to rob Hayden Senger of a hit and end the seventh inning against his former team.

“Years and years of getting reads,” Mangum said. “I’ve been in center field for a long time now, and it’s just a lot of work. I’ve loved working with [Marlins outfield coach] Jon Jay. He’s been fantastic. It’s been really fun to be around a new group of guys. You just keep learning.”

Mangum is a non-roster invitee to camp and is coming off a solid-albeit-injury-hampered 2022 minor-league season in which he hit .306 with an .804 on-base-plus-slugging mark over 72 games (56 of which he started in center field).

In addition to Mangum, Peyton Burdick also looked steady in center field, tracking down every fly ball that came his way with ease. Marlins manager Skip Schumaker said Burdick will get playing time at all three outfield spots during camp.

▪ Miami’s first hit of spring? That came from Joe Rizzo. The non-roster invitee who signed a minor-league deal with the Marlins in December sent a middle-away changeup from Hunter Parsons to the wall in straightaway center field for a two-out, two-strike RBI double. He drove in Burdick, who walked, reached second on a Jordan Groshans groundout and advanced to third on a throwing error on a pickoff attempt. Rizzo finished the game with two hits.

Rizzo, 24, has yet to make his MLB debut. He played each of his past two seasons at Double A and had an .810 on-base-plus-slugging mark with 30 doubles, 21 home runs, 69 RBI and 84 runs scored in 118 games last season. He played first base on Saturday but has primarily been taking reps at third base during the early portion of spring training.

Jesus Sanchez had the Marlins’ only other hit of the game, an RBI single that scored Jon Berti, who walked twice and stole a base.

▪ A lot of top prospects got into the game. With very few regulars in the lineup (Berti, Bryan De La Cruz and Sanchez), five position players ranked among Miami’s top-30 prospects by MLB Pipeline appeared in Saturday’s game.

Xavier Edwards (Miami’s No. 16 overall prospect according to MLB Pipeline) started at second base and made two great defensive plays (a pick on a Lindor groundball in the first inning and starting an inning-ending double play in on an Escobar groundball in the fourth) and was part of one bad play (a pop up falling between him and Rizzo when neither called for the ball).

Infielder Jordan Groshans (Miami’s No. 13 prospect) started at designated hitter and went 0 for 1 with a walk.

Jacob Amaya (Miami’s No. 12 prospect) played the final six innings at shortstop and showed off his range by running for a popup in left field in the sixth inning.

Jacob Berry (Miami’s No. 3 prospects) played the final six innings at third base. He drew a five-pitch walk in first plate appearance and grounded out to third base in his second.

Troy Johnston (Miami’s No. 21 prospect) misplayed a pair of groundballs at first base.