On Saturday night, the Cardinals dominated the Mets in nearly every possible way, powering their way to a 12-2 victory, which guaranteed them another series win at home. The following day, they looked to sweep the Mets.
And for nearly six hours, the two teams had a thrilling battle that, ultimately, did not go in the Cardinals favor.
Despite leaving 25 men on base, the New York Mets were able to defeat the St. Louis Cardinals 3-1.
The pitching matchup for the afternoon featured Tim Cooney (0-0, 4.34) for the Cardinals, still looking for his first win, against Jon Niese (5-8, 3.61) of the Mets. Both pitchers started off the game by throwing a 1-2-3 inning, and soon enough, it became a pitcher’s duel between the two.
Cooney throughout the game showed strong progression in his pitching ability, and has done so since his poor debut against the Phillies. In the top of the fifth inning, with the game still in a scoreless tie, and after allowing a one-out double to Ruben Tejada, Cooney was able to get back-to-back strikeouts, ending the scoring threat.
In the bottom of the fifth inning, Peter Bourjos hit a one out single, bringing up Pete Kozma, who had lined out. Cooney, however, was able to get his second hit on the afternoon, advancing Bourjos to third, and putting the Cardinals in a good position to score. But Niese was able to get Kolten Wong to line out to center field, keeping the score at 0-0.
Seth Maness entered the game to pitch in relief of Cooney with two outs in the top of the sixth. His final line of the game was: 5.2 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 4 BB, 7 Ks. And Cooney also set the Cardinals all-time record with most starts without a decision to begin a career (Sunday was his fifth start).
The game extended well into the extra innings with the scoreless tie still going strong.
Until the 13th inning. With Carlos Villanueva on the mound for the Cardinals, Curtis Granderson led off with a double. Kevin Plawecki then singled, scoring Granderson to give the Mets a 1-0 lead.
But St. Louis was able to respond.
In the bottom of the 13th inning, Wong hit a lead off home run, tying the game up at 1-1, and sending the crowd at Busch Stadium into a frenzy.
It remained a 1-1 tie game until the top of the eighteenth inning. Carlos Martinez was pitching for the Cardinals, and Wilmer Flores and Granderson started off the inning by hitting back-to-back singles. Plawecki then hit a sacrifice advancing the runners, but due to an error by Martinez, the bases ended up being loaded.
Tejada then hit a sacrifice fly, scoring Flores, giving the Mets a 2-1 lead. During the next at-bat, Eric Campbell sacrificed to Martinez, scoring Granderson to make it 3-1. And, that was all the Mets needed as Carlos Torres pitched a 1-2-3 bottom of the eighteenth, giving the Mets the victory.
Martinez dropped to 10-4 on the year, while Torres improved to 3-4. The Cardinals are now 58-34, while the Mets are 48-44.
After an off-day, the Cardinals begin a series with the Chicago White Sox.
(AP Photo/Jeff Roberson)
