JUPITER, Fla. -- His pitching line did not reflect it, but Marlins right-hander Tom Koehler said he mostly was pleased with his outing Sunday against the Mets, his third start this spring.
"As far as working the process, I felt like today was the best I've thrown the ball," Koehler said after allowing four runs -- three earned -- on five hits and a walk over 3 2-3 innings of work in the Marlins' 11-0 loss to the Mets at Roger Dean Stadium. "I'm really happy with the execution of pitches."
Koehler said the only part of his outing that bothered him was a four-pitch, two-out walk to Mets third baseman Eric Campbell in the second inning after which the Mets then scored three runs.
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"It changed the complexion of the inning, so that's something that needs to be cleaned up," Koehler said. "Now we've got to get to the point where results start matching the quality, and that's something that will come. I don't like bad results regardless of the time of the year, so I'm a little frustrated with that. Now I've got to start seeing some more zeros."
Worth noting
• Infielder/outfielder Chris Johnson was kept out of the lineup for the third consecutive day after experiencing back spasms earlier this week.
"Chris is OK. We're going to hold him back another day until we get this muscle soreness or spasm, whatever they want to call it, out of there," manager Don Mattingly said. "Once he's good, then he'll start getting at-bats again."
The Marlins have Monday off, so Johnson will not see game action before Tuesday.
• Mattingly said the team likely will begin trimming the Major League roster early next week.
"As we kind of thin the herd a little bit, start getting down to your numbers, then you start getting a little more specialized in your work and things like that," Mattingly said.