PORT ST. LUCIE, Fla. -- Perhaps no pitcher has been affected more by baseball¡¯s new rules designed to increase the pace of the game than Astros right-hander Luis Garcia, who was told by Major League Baseball in December that he would no longer be able to use his familiar ¡°rock the baby¡± windup on the mound.

Garcia worked on shortening his windup, getting rid of the rocking motion with his arms and taking one step instead of two before delivering the ball. Garcia unveiled his compact windup during his start Tuesday against the Mets and seemed to have no issues ¡­

Well, except one.

During a second-inning at-bat against Mets outfielder Mark Canha, Garcia was ahead in the count, 0-2, as the 15-second pitch timer was winding down. Garcia wanted to throw a cutter, but hastily went with a fastball instead of waiting for a last-second sign from catcher Korey Lee. All¡¯s well that ends well. He struck out Canha on a 95.9-mph heater -- his fastest pitch of the game.

¡°I was running out of time and I didn¡¯t get the pitch I wanted and just threw a fastball,¡± Garcia said with a smile. ¡°I didn¡¯t want to get a ball, so I threw a fastball right down the middle, and it worked."

Garcia was nearly flawless in the Astros¡¯ 8-4 win over the Mets at Clover Park, striking out four batters and allowing one hit over two innings. He threw 20 of his 30 pitches for strikes while mixing his four-seam fastball, cutter, slider, changeup and curveball.

¡°It went good, and I felt good,¡± Garcia said. ¡°It was a good start to the spring.¡±

Astros pitching coach Josh Miller was impressed with Garcia and said he¡¯s adapted quickly to his new windup and delivery.

¡°His stuff looked like it held, looked comfortable and was on time,¡± Miller said. ¡°It didn¡¯t mess up anything, so it should be smooth sailing.¡±

Lee, who spent most of last year in the Minor Leagues where the pitch timer was in effect, was calling the pitches Tuesday and said Garcia will be able to make more improvements in regard to the pitch timer and being in sync with the catcher as the season progresses.

¡°It¡¯s just him kind of getting used to everything, the rhythm of the clock and knowing what Luis wants to do in that situation,¡± Lee said. ¡°Sometimes, you know what, it might happen a lot this year, not knowing what is going to come. We might talk about something and have a [predetermined] pitch if the clock¡¯s coming down. At the end of the day, he looked really, really [good] and was confident in all his pitches."

Garcia, an undrafted free agent from Venezuela, jumped from Class A to the big leagues during the pandemic-shortened 2020 season and hasn¡¯t looked back. In 63 career regular-season games (57 starts), he¡¯s 26-17 with a 3.57 ERA and will again be a key piece of an Astros rotation that will be without Lance McCullers Jr. to start the year with an injury.

Last year, Garcia went 15-8 with a 3.72 ERA in 28 regular-season starts but was limited to 5 2/3 relief innings in the postseason because the Astros had so much pitching depth and had numerous days off. He threw five scoreless innings to finish off Houston¡¯s 1-0, 18-inning win at Seattle to clinch the ALDS.

¡°His stuff is going to be pretty much the same,¡± Miller said. ¡°It¡¯s worked out pretty good for him so far in his Major League career. Maybe a little fine-tune with command and use his good pitches against both righties and lefties."