Mets’ Jose Quintana has strong four-inning scoreless outing

Noteworthy items during the Mets’ Grapefruit League action on Tuesday:

Good ‘Stuff’

Jose Quintana, one of the Mets’ options to start Opening Day, pieced together another strong outing, scattering just two hits across four scoreless innings.

He dropped his spring training ERA to 2.08 and said “all my stuff is working really good now.”

“I thought he got ahead in counts,” manager Carlos Mendoza said. “I thought he kept the ball on the ground, got a lot of ground balls. Used all of his pitches, especially that two-seam to righties. Tempo was good.”

Hits a problem

For the second consecutive game, the Mets struggled to hit, managing just two against the Nationals.

They were also held scoreless — on five hits — by the Marlins on Sunday.

Brandon Nimmo, Harrison Bader, Pete Alonso and Starling Marte, four Opening Day starters, combined to go 1-for-10 with two walks.

Caught my eye

Nimmo, shifting from center to left after Bader’s arrival, flashed potential at his new position in the first inning and saved Quintana from a first-and-third jam.

He fielded a shallow Joey Gallo single on one hop and threw out Joey Meneses at third base by multiple strides.

Wednesday’s schedule

Luis Severino will make his third spring start when the Mets host the Astros at 6:10 p.m. at Clover Park, with Jake Diekman, Shintaro Fujinami and Drew Smith expected to follow out of the bullpen.

It’ll mark a pivotal outing for Fujinami, the hard-throwing right-hander who’s competing for one of the Mets’ final bullpen spots but struggled in his most recent outing.