Mets’ Sewald gets best of Cubs’ Bryant in battle of close friends from Las Vegas

Chicago Cubs third baseman Kris Bryant is one of baseball’s brightest young stars, and New York Mets farmhand Paul Sewald is still trying to reach the majors.

But Sewald got the best of Bryant — barely — in a showdown of close friends, former college teammates and Las Vegans during Thursday’s Big League Weekend exhibition game at Cashman Field.

Sewald, a relief pitcher from Bishop Gorman High who started for the Mets, faced Bryant, a Bonanza High product, in the first inning. Bryant drove the first pitch he saw to deep center field, but Yoenis Cespedes made a running catch on the warning track to retire the 2015 National League Rookie of the Year.

“For Kris, that’s not that far,” Sewald said with a smile after his outing. “As long as I kept it in the yard, then I was going to be happy with that. So I’ll text him after the game to make sure he knows I didn’t like him swinging at the first pitch, but at least I got him out. I have bragging rights.”

Bryant finished 1-for-2 with a walk and a go-ahead RBI infield single to help the Cubs to a 5-1 win over the Mets before an announced sellout crowd of 11,025.

Surrounded by a throng of reporters on the field before the game, Bryant said he was looking forward to facing his former University of San Diego teammate.

“We were texting about that today,” Bryant said. “Paul’s an unbelievable person. I play golf with him in the offseason a lot. I think he’s one of the most underrated prospects in all of baseball. The guy has had a sub-2.00 ERA every year.

“I’m excited to see him out there. He always talks a little smack with me, but it’s all in good fun.”

Sewald, who went 3-0 with 24 saves and a 1.75 ERA last season for Double-A Binghamton, will start this season with the 51s. He allowed a hit and a walk in three scoreless innings and struck out Jason Heyward, Kyle Schwarber and David Ross.

“It was unbelievable, getting to pitch in front of the home crowd and my family,” Sewald said. “It gives me a ton of confidence that I can get up to the major league level.”

Sewald joked that he did have one problem with the crowd.

“I didn’t really appreciate that the crowd loved (Bryant) way more than they loved me,” he said. “When he came up, everybody got really excited. I just tried to keep my emotions in check and tried not to laugh getting to see him at the plate. But it was fun to get to face him.”

For the record, Sewald said he owns Bryant on the golf course, where he’s a 7-handicap and said “we’ll give Kris a generous 15 or so.”

“He can crush the ball off the tee, then nothing,” Sewald said, grinning. “I take him in golf, too.”

■ NEW AND IMPROVED BRYANT — Bryant has only one homer this spring after belting a majors-best nine last year, but Chicago manager Joe Maddon said not to read anything into that.

“He’s a much better hitter this year. I’ve already seen it,” he said. “He’s driving in runs with singles, which I think is going to put him in that 100-plus (RBIs) category on an annual basis.

“He’s still going to hit his homers this summer. My point is he’s made a lot of adjustments in the count and just in general, just by the path of his swing. It’s a new and improved version of KB from last year, and it’s just going to keep getting better.”

■ WORLD SERIES HANGOVER — The reigning NL champion Mets fell to 7-17-5 this spring, and manager Terry Collins attributes the team’s struggles to a World Series hangover.

“They came into this camp and the adrenaline from what happened last fall had sapped them,” he said. “It’s going to take awhile for them to rekindle it. I really do believe there is such a thing as the hangover that occurs. I’ve talked to enough other managers who’ve been in the World Series who said, ‘You’re going to see a difference.’”

Contact reporter Todd Dewey at tdewey@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0354. Follow him on Twitter: @tdewey33