Lucchesi made his first start of the spring Wednesday against the Marlins, getting stretched out to 42 pitches and tossing three scoreless innings with four strikeouts and two walks, Deesha Thosar of The New York Daily News reports.
The southpaw is making a strong push for a spot in the Mets' rotation after coming over from the Padres in the offseason, but the competition remains fierce. David Peterson, the presumed favorite for the No. 5 job, is coming off a solid rookie season but hasn't pitched as well this spring as Lucchesi (0.00 ERA, 7:3 K:BB in five innings) or even Jordan Yamamoto (1.08 ERA, 5:1 K:BB in 8.1 frames). If Carlos Carrasco (elbow) gets held back to begin the season, two of those hurlers could begin the year in the rotation, with the third likely to be sent to the team's alternate training site to stay stretched out rather than working in long relief out of the bullpen.