PORT ST. LUCIE — Cristian Pache started in center field against the Nationals on Monday at Clover Park, but his future seems destined for Triple-A Syracuse, where the Mets hope to unlock some tools on offense, as Pache has already proven himself as a stellar defensive outfielder. 

His prowess in center is no surprise, considering his history. 

Pache, 27, signed with the Braves out of the Dominican Republic in 2015 and went on to wear No. 25 in the majors with Atlanta in 2021. 

The decision to wear that number was easy for Pache — who spent all of last season with Arizona’s Triple-A Reno affiliate. 

“When I was young, my dad was a big fan of Atlanta and used to have me watch a lot of Andruw Jones videos,” Pache said recently through an interpreter. “From a defensive standpoint, I took after him.” 

As far as models go, that was a pretty good choice, as Jones is headed to Cooperstown largely because of how well he played center over a 17-year major league career spent mostly with the Braves. 

After signing with the Braves and coming up through the minor league system, Pache got to work with Jones, who was an instructor with Atlanta following his playing career that ended with the Yankees in 2012.

Jones will be inducted into the Hall of Fame this summer. 

“After I met him, we had a good relationship, so I figured I’d wear his number,” Pache said. 

“In my first spring with the Braves, he was there and gave me advice and told me how to work on skills and tricks to help improve my ability on defense.” 

He signed a minor league deal with an invitation to big league camp in December and has so far looked good with his new team. 

Pache entered Monday 11-for-25 with three extra-base hits in 11 Grapefruit League games, as the Mets remain hopeful he has the tools to become a player in the majors. 

With Juan Soto in left field, Luis Robert Jr. in center and Carson Benge potentially the future in right, there might not be room for Pache in Queens. 

But he’s still managed to impress. 

“He’s an elite defender,” Carlos Mendoza said. “Offensively, we’ve seen him hit the ball hard up the middle and run the bases. There are a lot of tools there. It’s good to see him getting results.”

In a see saw game on Monday night at Clover Park, the Mets fell 12-6 to the Nationals thanks to Washington’s six-run eruption in the ninth inning. It was the Mets’ ninth loss of the spring to go along with their 11 wins and one tie. The Mets return to action tomorrow afternoon as they travel to Jupiter to face the Marlins. Sean Manaea will take the ball in that game as he looks to secure his spot in the team’s rotations ahead of Opening Day.

• David Peterson started for New York and had an uneven outing. He allowed two runs in the first and two runs in the fourth. He was charged with four earned runs on five hits, with two walks and two strikeouts over four innings.
• The Mets got a pair back in the bottom half of the frame against Zach Penrod. Carson Benge led off with a walk and advanced to second on a wild pitch. Francisco Alvarez drove Benge home on a double down the left field line, and then came around to score on a Ronny Mauricio two-out double.
• Cristian Pache launched a solo home run in the second to give New York their first lead of the night. The Mets extended their lead in the third, as Mauricio singled home Jared Young.
• Washington’s Riley Adams singled home two runs in the top of the fourth to knot the game up at four apiece.
• After Peterson’s outing was complete, Devin Williams took the ball and hurled a scoreless fifth inning. The Mets’ closer struck out one and walked one as he lowered his ERA on the spring to 1.80
• Cristian Scott came in and pitched three-plus innings for New York, allowing three earned runs on five hits. Scott struck out four and did not walk a batter.
• Washington went ahead in the sixth when CJ Abrams led off with a triple and came around to score on a wild pitch. They added a run in the seventh on a James Woods leadoff home run.
• The Mets pulled even on a Christian Arroyo two-run home run in the eighth, his first of the spring for the Mets.
• The wheels came off for New York in the ninth inning, ultimately leading to their demise in this one. Woods doubled off Scott to lead off the inning, which ended the right-hander’s night. Douglas Orellana came in to try and hold the Nationals off the scoreboard, but he immediately allowed a double to Joey Weimer, which brought the pinch runner Luis Arias home. Later in the inning, Orellana threw a wild pitch, which brought home the eighth Washington run. Viandel Pena drove home two runs with a single past the third base bag, and another run came home on a Murphy Stehly run-scoring single.
• That spelled the end of the night for Orellana, who could not escape the ninth inning. Gregori Louis came in and allowed another run-scoring hit, which made it six runs in the inning for Washington as they batted around. He recovered to retire Luis Arias for the final out of the nightmarish ninth.
• Benge had another great night, going 2-for-2 with two walks and a run scored. He raised his spring average to .406 and his OPS to .972.
• Alvarez and Mauricio each had good nights for New York. Alvarez went 1-for-3 with a walk, a run scored, and a one driven in, while Mauricio had two hits in four at-bats while driving in two of New York’s six runs.
• Pache also had a two-hit night, with a double to go along with his home run.
• On the flip side, Mark Vientos had another brutal showing, going 0-for-4 with a strikeout. His average has now fallen to .040 on the spring, which isn’t counting his tough stint with Nicaragua in the World Baseball Classic.

The Mets were defeated by the Washington Nationals 12-6 on Monday night at Clover Park.

Here are some takeaways...

- Carson Benge continues to solidify his case for the Mets' Opening Day RF spot. The youngster reached safely in all four of his plate appearances on the night -- walking in the first, lining an opposite-field double in the second, walking again in the fourth, then lacing a 107.6 mph single in the seventh. 

Benge is riding a six-game hitting streak, helping bring his average to .406 on the spring. 

- It was a good night for two of the regulars in the Mets' starting lineup, as well. Francisco Alvarez reached twice with a first inning RBI double and a five-pitch walk in the third, and Ronny Mauricio laced a pair of opposite-field run scoring knocks, both of which came from the right-side against left-handed pitchers. 

Mauricio is now hitting .313 on the spring, and Alvarez is up to a 1.107 OPS. 

- Cristian Pache also continued his strong spring at the plate, reaching twice including a solo homer. The 27-year-old hasn't found much success to this point in his big-league career, but he'd give the Mets quality depth if he can continue this offensive surge to begin the season in Syracuse. 

Pache, a career .181 hitter, is hitting .464 with a 1.302 OPS on the spring. 

- Mark Vientos, on the other hand, continues to struggle and run into some tough luck offensively. He laced a 106.4 mph lineout right at the left fielder in the bottom of the first, broke his bat and softly lined out to third in the third, flew out to the warning track in the fourth, and struck out with a man on in the seventh. 

The slugger remains hitless since returning from the WBC, and is hitting just .040 in camp. 

- David Peterson endured a bit of an up-and-down outing. Washington made him pay in the first, turning two walks and two hits into a pair of runs, before he settled into a groove. The left-hander retired the next nine hitters he faced before the Nats turned three fourth-inning singles into two more two-out runs. 

Peterson's spring ERA is now 5.63 after allowing four runs on five hits and two walks over four innings. 

- Devin Williams continues to look in mid-season form. The Mets' new closer worked around a leadoff walk and stolen base in the top of the fifth, striking out one, as he put together his fourth consecutive scoreless appearance since allowing a homer on his very first pitch he threw this spring.

Williams has now struck out six and is down to a 1.80 ERA in Grapefruit League play.

- Christian Scott was hit around a bit in his third outing back. The righty gave up a triple to the first batter he faced in the sixth before allowing him to score on a wild pitch. James Wood then jumped him for a homer leading off the seventh. Wood would lace a leadoff double in the ninth to end Scott's night. 

Scott gave up three runs on five hits and struck out five while stretching out to 56 pitches. 

- Infielder Christian Arroyo evened things up with his first homer of the spring in the bottom of the eighth, before Washington regained command with six runs against Douglas Orellana in the top of the ninth.

Highlights

Francisco Alvarez with the double to drive in Carson Benge! pic.twitter.com/h6ufDMGp06

— SNY (@SNYtv) March 16, 2026

Ronny Mauricio with a double of his own! pic.twitter.com/qjX8ju7TGq

— SNY (@SNYtv) March 16, 2026

Cristian Pache hits his second home run of the spring! pic.twitter.com/kEyEYBVq7V

— SNY (@SNYtv) March 16, 2026

Carson Benge lines one the other way for a double pic.twitter.com/z91Kdxuko1

— SNY (@SNYtv) March 16, 2026

Ronny Mauricio gets his second hit and RBI of the day pic.twitter.com/UMxbuxdVWB

— SNY (@SNYtv) March 16, 2026

Carson Benge with his second hit of the night! pic.twitter.com/b1T7V2w8As

— SNY (@SNYtv) March 17, 2026

What's next

Sean Manaea gets the St. Patrick's Day start, as the Mets head to Jupiter to take on the Miami Marlins at 1:10 p.m.

Jose’s shoulder is ok, that’s all that matters. Here’s today’s lineup:

Halpin LF

Martinez CF

Manzardo DH

Hedges C

Kayfus 1B

Jones RF

Brito 2B

Kieboom 3B

Tolentino SS

The Athletics put forth arguably their best pitching performance yet this spring, shutting out the Los Angeles Angels 3-0. This afternoon marked the first time the team kept its opponent off the scoreboard in this year’s Cactus League.

A’s left-hander Jeffrey Springs put together his best performance and now seems ready for the season to start. He threw 84 pitches over 4 2/3 scoreless innings, only allowing three hits while striking out four. Springs found himself in trouble early as the Angels loaded the bases with two outs in the first inning on two hits and a walk. He escaped that jam by getting Angels’ catcher Logan O’Hoppe to fly out to left. Following that early scare, it was mostly smooth sailing for Springs until he was removed for reliever Nick Anderson after allowing Mike Trout’s fourth double of the spring with two outs in the fifth inning.

Returning to the first inning, buoyed by the Angels leaving the bases loaded, the A’s offense struck first against Los Angeles pitcher George Klassen. Following Nick Kurtz getting hit by a pitch and a Shea Langeliers single, Tyler Soderstrom grounded into a double play, which nearly killed the rally. Fortunately, Brent Rooker hit a two-out RBI single to score Kurtz who had moved to third base on the previous play. Rooker stole second base and then scored on Jacob Wilson’s single to right field.

Klassen and the three Angels relievers did a good job of subduing what was a red-hot A’s offense. The A’s finished the game with only four hits. Their only other run came courtesy of Max Muncy’s fourth Cactus League home run, a solo shot to right field in the fourth inning.

Out of all of the team’s candidates to play third base, Muncy seems to have the most offensive upside and has been getting the most playing time at the position, which suggests he will likely start there Opening Day in Toronto. Muncy has the offensive ability to further strengthen an already stellar lineup, although he will hopefully not make too many crippling defensive errors if given the chance to play third base daily.

With the team up 3-0, it was down to the A’s relievers to protect their team’s slim lead. Right-handers Nick Anderson, Mark Leiter Jr., Michael Kelly and A.J. Causey did their job and more, combining to keep the Angels from inching closer.

Anderson, who curiously was not reassigned alongside fellow non-roster invitees Wander Suero and Nick Hernandez, got the last out of the fifth inning and then worked around allowing a leadoff double the next inning. Free-agent acquisition Leiter Jr. will likely pitch in many high-stress, late-game moments this season for the A’s. This afternoon, he worked his way out of a first-and-third, one-out situation in the seventh inning, striking out Mike Trout for the second out and then getting the next Angels hitter to ground out to end the inning.

Kelly also worked out of trouble the next inning and then Causey, who has a shot to make his MLB debut this year, slammed the door in the ninth, collecting his first save in an A’s uniform.

All spring, the A’s have been winning games by simply outscoring their opponents, so today it was nice to see the team win thanks to strong pitching and defense. Speaking of defense, Zack Gelof caught every ball hit his way in right field. If anyone was at the game, how does he look in the outfield and is it a realistic possibility to see him out there in the regular season? Share in the comment section below.

Here’s how the box score looked today:

The Athletics will try to make it two wins in a row tomorrow as they travel to Glendale, Arizona to play the Chicago White Sox. Luis Morales will start for the A’s, looking to build on his solid performance in his last outing and cement his spot as one of the A’s five starting pitchers in their season-opening rotation. At the moment, the White Sox have yet to list their scheduled starter for that Cactus League matchup between two teams looking to take a step forward this season.

Yoshinobu Yamamoto on Monday was officially named the opening day starter for the Dodgers, with the right-hander set to take the mound on Thursday, March 26 against the Arizona Diamondbacks at Dodger Stadium.

That puts Yamamoto in rare air, considering he also threw the last pitch for the Dodgers in 2025, getting the final eight outs in Game 7 of the World Series, the day afterthrowing 96 pitches in six innings in Game 6. In case you forgot how that ended, Yamamoto won Game 6 and Game 7, and the Dodgers won a second straight World Series, with the star Japanese right-hander at the center of it all.

Yamamoto next week will join Sandy Koufax as the only Dodgers pitchers to close out a World Series championship, then throw the first pitch of the next season. Koufax beat the New York Yankees in 1963 to win World Series MVP, just like Yamamoto last year.

In 1964 he started the Dodgers’ first game, also at Dodger Stadium, this time a shutout to beat the St. Louis Cardinals. It was the only opening day start of Koufax’s illustrious career.

While Koufax and soon Yamamoto are the only Dodgers to follow the last pitch of a championship and the first pitch of the next season, eight others in modern franchise history threw the Dodgers’ final pitch of one season and the first pitch of the next.

Others in the Fall Classic

Brooklyn lost the best-of-nine World Series five games to two in 1916, their first trip to the Fall Classic. Wheezer Dell pitched a scoreless inning to conclude the Dodgers’ pitching in that series, then started on opening day in 1917 against the Phillies, allowing six runs in five innings in a loss.

Carl Erskine pitched the final two innings of Game 7 of the 1952 World Series in scoreless fashion, in a game the Dodgers lost 4-2 to the rival New York Yankees. Then he started opening day in 1953 against the Pirates at Ebbets Field. That didn’t go as well for Erskine, who allowed four runs in three innings. But Brooklyn rallied for an 8-5 win.

One regular season into another

Right-hander Cy Barger pitched three of his seven major league seasons for Brooklyn, and closed out the 1910 season with a complete-game loss against the Boston Braves. He followed that up with the opening day start in 1911, and lost another one-run game to the Braves, this time on the road.

Dazzy Vance is the other Hall of Famer in this group along with Koufax, and just as Koufax won NL MVP in 1963, so did Vance in 1924 after leading the league in wins (28) and strikeouts (262). Vance on the last day of the 1924 season pitched his 30th complete game of the year in beating the Braves at Ebbets Field. Then in 1925, Vance beat the Philadelphia Phillies on opening day with another complete game.

Jesse Petty ended the 1926 season with a complete-game win over the Chicago Cubs, and started 1927 with an opening-day win in Boston.

Leftt-hander Watson Clarkbeat the Phillies to end the 1928 season, then started on opening day in 1929 in Boston. Clark lasted only three innings and allowed five runs, in a wild game Brooklyn lost 13-12.

Hall of Famer Don Drysdale pitched the final two innings in relief to beat the Cubs at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, closing out the 1960 season. Drysdale struck out two in that game to give him a major-league-leading 246 strikeouts on the season, at the time the fourth-most strikeouts in modern National League history.

Then Drysdale beat the Phillies in the same stadium with seven strong innings to open the 1961 campaign. That was the fourth consecutive opening day start for the then-24-year-old Drysdale, who would start seven opening days in his career.

Nobody knew it at the time, but Ramón Mártinezshutting out the Cincinnati Reds on August 11, 1994 was the Dodgers’ final game of the season. Before this start, Mártinez was briefly back home in Glendale for the birth of his daughter.

“They were saying to me, ‘Have another kid,” Martínez said, laughing, to Maryanne Hudson of the Los Angeles Times.

The players’ strike began the next day, and labor strife escalated enough to cancel the World Series that year as well as lop one-ninth of the 1995 schedule as well. Once an accord between players and owners was finally reached and a shortened-spring training got folks ready, Martínez pitched six strong innings to beat the Florida Marlins in Miami in the Dodgers’ first game.

A day after flirting with perfection, the Giants were perfectly inept at capitalizing on scoring opportunities.

In their 3-1 loss against the San Diego Padres, San Francisco bats went hitless in a baker’s dozen worth of at-bats, including three duds in the 9th inning after Osleivis Basabe’s lead-off triple. Tyler Fitzgerald’s sacrifice fly in the 7th accounted for the Giants’ solitary run, so “perfectly inept” isn’t exactly right — just near-perfect once again.

While it was a team effort in this regard, Luis Matos, a sub for Jung Hoo Lee in right in the 7th inning, particularly struggled. His two at-bats of the day each came with a runner in scoring position. With a man on first and second and one-out, he chased after an inside cutter and popped it up to short. In the 9th, he was called out on strikes on the sixth pitch of the at-bat: a four-seam fastball in the corner pocket that froze him completely. He had fouled off three previous pitches out of the zone to put him in the two-strike hole. 

The spring slump continues for Matos and based on some of the swing decisions today, his eagerness to swing his way out of it is doing more harm than good.

All three of San Diego’s runs came against reliever Spencer Bivens in the 6th inning. Chalk this unseemly frame up to a 50/50 mix of tough-luck and self-inflicted trouble. The Padres peppered three singles off Bivens, two of them grounders finding holes, and two of them probably corralled by second baseman Casey Schmitt on a better day.  What made those tough breaks hurt was the traffic supplied by Bivens by way of a walk, a hit batter, and a wild pitch. It also didn’t help that he didn’t properly back-up the catcher on Christian Koss’s overthrow home on Miguel Andujar’s sacrifice fly. The error was attributed to center fielder Koss, but if Bivens was positioned better, the runner on first would’ve been prevented from advancing into scoring position on the play.  

But it wasn’t all bad! 

Tyler Mahle went toe-to-toe with Padres starter Walker Buehler and Tyler Mahle through the early innings. Buehler scattered 3 hits and 2 walks over 5 innings pitched while bailing himself out of trouble by way of 7 strikeouts. Mahle had started the day with an unblemished ERA but struggled with command, having walked 7 batters against 6 strikeouts over his previous 6 innings of work. Over four innings against San Diego, Mahle doubled his K-total while allowing just one baserunner and preserving his scoreless Spring. 

While the typical 1-2 punch of his four-seam and splitter were present today (accounting for 4 of his 6 strikeouts), Mahle evened out his mix on the day to focus on his slider. 

Historically the offering has probably been his worst pitch. It’s an underwhelming specimen in regards to movement. The pitch is a little sluggish for a slider, nor does its glove-side run distinguish itself from his cutter, and only by virtue of being a couple of beats slower on the radar gun does the offering get more of vertical lilt. 

Mahle tossed 13 of these sliders, about a quarter of his overall pitches, and most were offered to right-handed batters. Two of his six K’s came on the pitch. He threw four consecutive sliders in the 1st inning, and all of them were elevated in the upper-third of the zone or higher. While this feels like a location mistake for this pitch-type, because Mahle is such a north-south thrower, he seems to be able to get away with spotting his breaking ball at the belt. Xander Bogaerts, who spun around one on the 8th pitch of his at-bat in the 1st, was clearly timed-up for the fastball and thought he got one reading the ball out of Mahle’s hands. In their next match-up, Mahle served up a 2-1 slider (his last of the afternoon) to a similar spot that Bogaerts somewhat mis-hit, directing the pitch into the ground but striking it hard enough to coax a fielding error from shortstop Tyler Fitzgerald. 

That belt-high slider should’ve been a souvenir for a fan sitting on the hill beyond left field. Instead a bad pitch in a bad location got drilled into the ground. A veteran hitter like Bogaerts still couldn’t square it up because Mahle mixed it in so well. He knows his stuff and knows how to squeeze the most out of each offering — this is the benefit of signing veteran arms. You can bet when those two meet in the regular season, that slider is going to be top of Bogaert’s mind. Mahle, in the middle of March, was pitching for outs in June.

The Dodgers made a few more roster cuts after Monday’s marathon loss to the Milwaukee Brewers, sending eight players to the minor league side of camp at Camelback Ranch.

Outfielder Michael Siani and reliever Paul Gervase are on the 40-man roster, so they were optioned to the minors.

Non-roster invitees Zach Ehrhard, James Tibbs III, Noah Miller, Zyhir Hope, Cole Irvin, and Ryder Ryan were reassigned to minor league camp.

Hope is the consensus top-100 prospect who remained the longest in camp, and through Monday leads the Dodgers with 22 games played this spring, though he hit just .179/.238/.231 with two doubles in 42 plate appearances.

Ehrhard and Tibbs, both acquired from the Boston Red Sox for Dustin May last July, each impressed this spring, and among Dodgers outfield prospects are older and closer to the majors than the rest, likely ticketed for Triple-A this season. Ehrhard hit .327/.389/.551 with five doubles and three triples in 20 games, while Tibbs hit .326/.392/.651 with three home runs, three doubles, and a triple in his 20 games.

With Irvin and Ryder Ryan sent down, the only two non-roster pitchers remaining in big league camp are right-hander Chris Campos and left-hander Antoine Kelly.

With these moves, the Dodgers have 43 players remaining in big league camp, including 23 pitchers and 20 position players.