LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. – After getting knocked around in consecutive starts against the Detroit Tigers, Bud Norris faced a National League East divisional foe Saturday and got considerably better results.
Even if six of the Mets’ projected lineup regulars didn’t make the trip to ESPN Wide World of Sports, Norris and the Braves were nonetheless pleased to see their No. 2 starter pitch deeper into a game and have a solid outing in his next-to-last start of spring training.
Matched against hard-throwing Mets All-Star Jacob deGrom, Norris pitched six innings and allowed four hits, two runs and three walks with five strikeouts in a game that ended in a 3-3, 10-inning tie, the fourth tie for each team this spring.
“I thought he pitched great,” Braves manager Fredi Gonzalez said of Norris, who threw 59 strikes in 96 pitches. “It was a hot, humid day to pitch at 1 o’clock in the afternoon. That fifth inning took a little bit out of him, but he went back out there in the sixth and got through it. For me, that was a real nice positive.”
Norris had an 8.53 ERA in four starts and had not lasted more than 4 2/3 innings before Saturday, when he retired the first seven batters and allowed only two runners to reach base through four innings.
The Mets loaded the bases with none out in the fifth inning on a leadoff single and two walks. They got two runs in the inning but didn’t get a ball out of the infield, scoring on a groundout to first base and a slow roller to the left side that went for a single when Norris’ throw to the plate was late.
The veteran right-hander retired five of the last six batters he faced, with only a two-out walk in the sixth disrupting that span of quality pitching.
Before facing the Mets, Norris allowed 16 hits and 11 runs in 7 2/3 innings in consecutive one-sided losses to the Tigers.
“These last couple (starts) are pretty important just to get deeper in the game and really kind of fine-tune everything, so I was pretty happy,” Norris said. “My breaking balls were much sharper today, sinker was still good to both sides of the plate. It was hotter than you-know-what out there, so you were really kind of laboring between innings. But it was good to go six, I was happy with that.”
Coming off a career-worst season in which he battled bronchitis and posted a 6.72 ERA in 38 games (11 starts) with the Orioles and Padres, Norris signed a one-year, $2.5 million deal with the Braves and came to camp stronger, in better condition, and determined to stay that way.
“I’m healthy,” he said. “I came into camp with that as my main focus, to get out of here healthy. Happy to get through six, get my pitch count up, see some results and so forth. So I’m excited for one more and then really get this thing going.”
