FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. The Mets wisely took it easy on Oliver Perez yesterday.
Less than a week after Team Mexico manager Vinny Castilla wore out the left-hander with an 85-pitch outing in the World Baseball Classic, manager Jerry Manuel allowed Perez to throw just 51 pitches in a 4-0 Grapefruit League win over the Orioles.
Perez was his typically up-and-down self in the brief outing, allowing just one hit and no runs in three innings but walking two and testing the patience of his manager a little bit.
“He was pretty good,” Manuel said. “Obviously, he kept runs off the board. But as we go forward, the command has to be a little more consistent. We tried to back him off a little bit.”
Perez admitted the 85-pitch night in the WBC exhausted him coming so early in the spring.
The WBC stint also caused him to get admittedly careless with his mechanics, so Perez will focus on making his delivery more compact the next two weeks.
“Sometimes I opened up [the delivery] a little bit, but that’s why it’s spring training,” Perez said. “You work on it and get ready for the season.”
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It appears safe to pencil in top pitching prospect Bobby Parnell for at least a seventh-inning relief role when the Mets break camp next month.
Parnell threw 2″ shutout innings against the Orioles to lower his spring ERA to 2.89. The right-hander gave up five hits but didn’t walk anyone and struck out two.
“It would be very, very tough at this point not to take him with us [once the regular season starts],” said Manuel.
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Manuel put Nick Evans in the unfamiliar role of right fielder to see if the hot-hitting prospect could strengthen his argument for the final bench spot.
The Mets would like Evans to start the year at Triple-A Buffalo so he can get regular at-bats, but Evans’ .304 average this spring continues to tempt Manuel.
“The way he was hitting the ball in batting practice, I might put him in center field [today],” Manuel said. “I’ve got to find somewhere for that bat, I’ll tell you that.”