Brett Baty and Ryan Clifford go yard, Clay Holmes terrific as Mets blank Astros

The Mets beat the Astros, 5-0, on Thursday afternoon as their spring training slate continued.

Here are the takeaways…

– Clay Holmes was terrific in 3.0 scoreless innings in his second start of the spring. The only hit he allowed was a two-out double in first inning — a blooper down the right field line that landed just beyond a diving Tyrone Taylor.

Overall, Holmes (who threw 42 pitches, including 27 for strikes) gave up one hit and one walk while striking out two as he faced an Astros lineup that included Jeremy Peña, Yordan Alvarez, and Christian Walker. His ERA in 6.0 spring innings is 0.00.

Holmes’ sinking fastball topped out around 96 mph, and he also mixed in lots of four-seamers — a pitch he’s working to more seriously add to his repertoire as he makes his transition from starter to reliever.

– Griffin Canning, who is competing for a spot in the starting rotation, tossed a scoreless inning in the fourth as he worked around two soft hits. In 1.2 innings, Canning held the Astros scoreless while allowing two hits, walking one, and striking out two.

– First base/outfield prospect Ryan Clifford hit a laser of a two-run homer to right field in the sixth inning during his first at-bat. He grounded out to first base his second and final time up.

– Brett Baty followed Clifford’s smash with a two-run blast of his own later in the inning. It was Baty’s second homer during a spring where his OPS is 1.727.

– Francisco Alvarez drilled an opposite field single his first at-bat and drew a walk his second time up.

– Jose Siri generated a run with his legs in the fifth inning. After drawing a leadoff walk, Siri stole second base before moving to third on a fly out and scoring on a ground out.

– Max Kranick was impressive in 2.0 perfect innings. His fastball topped out near 97 mph, and he punctuated his first inning by getting Quincy Hamilton to strike out swinging on a curve after an 11-pitch at-bat. In his second inning, Kranick got another strikeout — sandwiched around a fly out and ground out. Kranick is transitioning from a starter to a multi-inning reliever, and has a chance to make the bullpen out of camp.

Highlights

Upcoming schedule

The Mets host the Nationals on Friday at 1:10 p.m. on SNY.

Top pitching prospect Brandon Sproat gets the start for New York.