The St. Louis Cardinals are coming off a big 2-1 victory on Sunday night over the Detroit Tigers, backed by a Kolten Wong home run, but the big story in the victory was the strong pitching by Lance Lynn.
And on Monday against the New York Mets, the Cardinals needed strong pitching by their starter, veteran John Lackey, and he would be going up against one of the best in the game, Matt Harvey.
And nearly two hours after they both finished pitching, the game itself was finally finished, with the Mets emerging victorious 2-1 in 14 innings.
In the top of the first, while both Matt Holliday and Jhonny Peralta got on base, Matt Adams popped out to end the top half. Lackey did his job in the bottom of the first, and a big diving play from Randal Grichuk in center-field to rob a potential double from Lucas Duda helped the cause as well.
Harvey allowed a lead-off hit to Yadier Molina in the top of the second, which extended his hitting streak to five games, but the Cardinals could not capitalize on it. Eventually, after two innings, the game was tied 0-0, and Lackey had himself two straight 1-2-3 innings.
Between two of the top teams in all of baseball entering May, it was an intense start. On just 30 pitches, Lackey had gone nine up, nine down, in a pitching duel with one of the elites in Harvey.
The top of the fourth inning started with a walk of Peralta in a good at-bat by the shortstop, which was followed by a single by Adams, who is working his way to get out of a slump that has been an issue for a couple of weeks. Molina stepped up to the plate next, with boos reigning throughout Citi Field, as Mets fans remembered Molina’s home run in the last game of the NLCS during the 2006 season.
Molina then struck out, Harvey’s fourth of the game, as Jason Heyward then came up with two on and one out. But Heyward lined out in what ended up being a double play to end the top of the fourth inning. In the bottom of the fourth inning, Curtis Granderson hit a lead-off double, ending the no-hitter Lackey had going. Duda later hit a single, scoring Granderson giving the Mets a 1-0 lead. The Cardinals and Lackey were able to get out of the inning down just one.
Both Lackey and Harvey pitched strong into the seventh inning, with six hits between them (four allowed by Harvey, and two by Lackey), and only the Duda RBI single in the fourth inning that gave the Mets the 1-0 lead was keeping the game from still being scoreless deep into the game. In fact, Lackey only had 64 pitches through six innings, which was good for the sake of the Cardinals bullpen, who have been used more than any team in Major League Baseball this season.
The top of the seventh started with a lead-off single by Molina, but Heyward grounded into a double play, and then Grichuk flied out to end the inning. While Lackey continued to roll, the time came when Mike Matheny took him out of the game. St. Louis did not provide him with any run support, despite him allowing just three hits, and only one run: he only threw 76 pitches.
Meanwhile, Randy Choate entered to pitch the bottom of the eighth, as did Mitch Harris, allowing no runs as well, keeping the game close for the offense in the top of the ninth. he Mets sent in Jeurys Familia to close it out in the top of the ninth, with Peralta, Adams, and Molina up. With one out in the inning, Adams singled, as did Molina. Pete Kozma pinch ran for Adams, and Heyward stepped up to the plate with runners on the corners.
And Heyward tied the game with a sacrifice fly, to make it 1-1 with Molina on second.
Lackey and Harvey, both of whom pitched great all game long, did not win (or lose) in their starts. The final line for Lackey: 7 IP 3 H 1 ER 0 BB 6 K. As for Harvey, his final line: 8 IP 6 H 0 ER 1 BB 9 K
In the bottom of the ninth, Kevin Siegrist entered to pitch for the Cardinals, and despite cutting it close, especially after a four-pitch walk of Luda, he would get Cuddyer to strike out, the game headed to extra innings. Through the 10th, 11th, 12th, and 13th inning, both teams traded back and forth hits, but the score remained 1-1, despite base hits, walks, and multiple changes in who entered the game. Relievers such as Matt Belisle and Seth Maness shut down the Mets, while relievers such as Carlos Torres shut down the Cardinals.
The game remained scoreless in the top of 14th inning as well. For many, memories were brought up over the game on September 11, 1974, in which the Cardinals defeated the Mets in 25 innings. During the bottom of the 14th, Sam Tuivailala threw back to back walks and Trevor Rosenthal entered.
But in the end, John Mayberry, Jr. hit a game-winning single, giving the Mets the walk-off 2-1 victory in 14 innings.
The loss puts the Cardinals at 25-13 on the season, and the Mets at 23-16. Michael Wacha will get the start for St. Louis on Tuesday.
(AP Photo/Bill Kostroun)
