The Mets salvaged the last game of the 3-game series against the Cardinals in dramatic fashion, stand at 14-13 with the 17-11 Chicago Cubs coming to Citi Field for a 4-game set.
Reversing trends seen in the first two game of the series, Sunday’s finale included the strongest starting pitching outing for the Mets of the season and clutch hitting.
St. Louis Cardinals Series – Game Recaps and Takeaways
Game 1 was a 4-2 Cardinals victory. Jose Butto started for the Mets and continued the string of Mets starters throwing a lot of pitches but not covering a lot of innings. He allowed 4 ER’s in 5.2 innings over 94 pitches, raising his ERA this season to 2.86. The difference in the game was a second inning 3-run HR by St. Louis’s Alec Burleson (his first HR since last August). On the bright side for the Mets, J.D. Martinez made his Mets debut, going 2-4 with an RBI double. The bullpen continued their strong start to the season, contributing 3.1 innings of 1 hit, shutout ball.
Game 2 clinched the series win for St. Louis with a 7-4 victory. The debut of the Mets City Connect jerseys did not bring about a win. Sonny Gray pitched very well for the Cardinals, getting the win to move to 3-1 on the season. He allowed 4 runs, only 1 earned, over 6 innings, moving his ERA to 1.16. He struck out 9 Mets hitters. The Mets spotted the Cards a 6-0 lead before getting on the board in the 5th with Brandon Nimmo driving in 2 and Pete Alonso homering to drive in 2. Adrian Houser had a rough start, giving up 6 ER’s in 4.1 innings. This taxed the bullpen to pitch 4.2 innings which they surrendered 1 run over. The final out was a bases loaded pop up from Francisco Lindor after he struck out his 4 previous times to the plate.
Two items of particular note from Game 2. First, congratulations to Pete Alonso. His home run was the 200th of his career. He hit this milestone in his 710th game, which according to the Elias Sports Bureau, makes him the fourth-fastest player in MLB history to reach this mark (Ryan Howard, Aaron Judge, and Ralph Kiner are the three fastest).
https://twitter.com/Mets/status/1784338188036710515
Second, my two cents on the City Connect jerseys. While I did not like them at first, they quickly grew on me. Finding out that the grey was intended to represent the concrete jungle that is New York City. The purple was there to represent the 7 line, which takes fans out to Citi Field. The black lines are made of circles and diamonds, representing the local and express subway lines. The circular patch is intended to be a subway token. The bridge on the hat is the Queensboro Bridge. There was a lot of thought that went into these jerseys, which is what turned my impression to positive.
Back to the Cardinals series. Game 3 was a dramatic finale that saw the Mets win 4-2 in 11 innings. The Mets came back twice in this game. Francisco Lindor hit a solo HR in the 6th to tie the game at 1, and Harrison Bader hit an RBI single in the 11th to tie it at 2-2. That set the stage for Mark Vientos to be the hero for this game. With Starling Marte being placed on the bereavement list, Vientos was called up from AAA Syracuse and delivered the walk-off home run. Jose Quintana was great on the mound, tossing 8 innings of 3-hit, 1-run ball over 99 pitches. This type of performance is exactly what manager Carlos Mendoza, pitching coach Jeremy Hefner and the Mets have been waiting for. This was the first time a Mets starting pitcher reached the 7th inning since last season. Edwin Diaz was dominant in his inning of work and early season standout Reed Garrett pitched two innings, picked up the win to move to 5-0, and gave up 1 ER which raised his ERA….. to 0.61.
Who’s Next: Chicago Cubs
Up next are the first place 17-11 Chicago Cubs, the second consecutive Mets opponent of this homestand from the NL Central. The Cubs won 4 of 6 on their way to Citi Field. They are 7-8 on the road on the season and are 6-4 in their last 10 games. Here are a few players to watch in this 3-game series:
Cody Bellinger: Similar to Martinez on the Mets, Bellinger signed later in Spring Training and returned to the Cubbies. The two-time Silver Slugger and two-time All-Star fractured his ribs last week and is on the IL. So, he won’t appear vs. the Mets but interesting to see how the late signees (Bellinger, Martinez and Jordan Montgomery) fare. So far this year, he is batting .226 with 5 HR, 17 RBI’s, and an OPS .760.
Pete Crow-Armstrong: The Mets drafted Crow-Armstrong in the 1st round in 2020. He came to the Cubs as part of the deal that landed Javier Baez on the Mets. He made his debut with the Cubs last season and went 0 for 14. He was called up to the majors this season when Bellinger went on the IL. In a limited sample size of 10 at bats, Crow-Armstrong has 4 hits, including 1 HR, 4 RBI’s and an OPS of 1.2.
The Mets will be carrying the emotion of a walk-off victory into the Cubs series, and have Luis Severino, Sean Manaea, Jose Butto and Adrian Houser scheduled to start the 4 games. They will be looking to win the series after dropping two series in a row (Giants, Cardinals). Following the Cubs, the Mets will travel to Tampa to take on the Rays. As always, Let’s Go Mets!
Written by: Jason Krom
Stats by espn.com
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