PORT ST. LUCIE — Gee, that was awful.
“I don’t want to think about it,” Dillon Gee said Thursday when asked to assess his performance in the Mets’ 9-1 exhibition loss to the Tigers.
The right-hander allowed six earned runs on three hits, four walks, two hit batters and three wild pitches over two innings for the worst performance by a Mets starting pitcher this spring.
Gee normally would have followed his outing by throwing in the bullpen to get in extra pitches, but said he was so disgusted he skipped the session.
“Some days I don’t know what happens — I literally cannot throw the baseball anywhere I want to go,” Gee said. “It happens, but I’ll keep working and we’ll figure it out.”
Manager Terry Collins said there is no physical issue with Gee, who missed the second half of last season after a blood clot was found in his pitching shoulder.
“That’s very uncharacteristic, what you saw today,” Collins said. “I just asked [pitching coach] Dan [Warthen] if he was working on something in particular and he just said he was having a real tough time finding his release point, so it’s something that is easily fixed.
“I’ve watched this guy pitch for four years and never seen that before so I’m not too concerned about it.”
* Jeremy Hefner, the front-runner to start the season in the rotation with Johan Santana doubtful, said he views Friday’s start against the Braves as a test.
“It’s a good lineup, with the addition of the Upton brothers [B.J. and Justin], it will give me a good indicator on where my stuff is and what I need to work on,” Hefner said. “My arm feels good, that’s the main thing, and my slider is responding pretty well and my changeup is there and it’s just a matter of getting in a groove and building my arm strength up.”
* Left-hander Aaron Laffey, who hasn’t allowed an earned run in three appearances this spring, likely will pitch 2-3 innings today against the Braves to get lengthened out for consideration as a starting pitcher. Collins intends to give Laffey a start next week.
* Kirk Nieuwenhuis [knee] is not scheduled to resume baseball activities as of yet. Collins said he is hopeful that can occur within the next 2-3 days. … Daniel Murphy [rib cage] is on track to play in a minor league game this weekend.