WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — Noah Syndergaard kept his torso covered and fastball to double digits.
After opening his exhibition season last year in this same ballpark and hitting 101 mph on the radar gun before insisting on conducting his postgame interviews shirtless outside the clubhouse, the Mets right-hander kept it low-key Monday under an overcast sky at Ballpark of the Palm Beaches.
His final numbers: two scoreless innings, two hits allowed, two strikeouts, with a fastball that maxed at 99 mph.
But Syndergaard insists he wasn’t holding back anything.
“I feel like if you’re not going 100 percent — I know it’s early — but I feel like if you try to take a little bit off early in games like this, I think you put yourself more at a risk for injury,” Syndergaard said (wearing a shirt) on a day the Mets and Astros played to a 3-3 tie.