The St. Louis Cardinals are really enjoying their tour of New York. The Redbird bats were ready for action and Andre Pallante was pretty sharp as the Cardinals easily beat the Mets for their 6th straight victory.
The St. Louis Cardinals did not hesitate to let the New York Mets know they would be scoring often as JJ Wetherholt led off the game with a single to center. Ivan Herrera was not hit by a pitch, believe it or not, but did end up on base with a walk giving St. Louis runners on first and second with no outs. Alec Burleson grounded out to the right side moving Wetherholt and Herrera into scoring position. Jordan Walker then smoked a single to left-center scoring JJ from third giving St. Louis a 1-0 lead.
Herrera didn’t get a good jump off of second making sure the ball wasn’t caught and was held at third. Lars Nootbaar then drew a walk to load the bases. The Cardinals got their second run of the inning when Masyn Winn grounded into a fielder’s choice, but avoided the double play as St. Louis ended up leading 2-0 after the top half of the 1st inning.
The Cardinals would strike again in the top of the 3rd inning after Masyn Winn drew a 2-out walk which brought up Nelson Velázquez with a chance to show why we like it when he’s in the lineup as he turned a 92 mph sinker into a souvenir in the left field seats 413 feet away giving St. Louis a commanding 4-0 lead.
The biggest jolt of the night would follow one inning later in the Cardinals 4th as JJ Wetherholt reached on an infield single that ricocheted off of the pitcher. Ivan Herrera then walked again giving St. Louis two men on base for Jordan Walker who helped the Mets understand that you don’t groove a 92 mph four-seam fastball down the middle to the 2026 version of Jordan Walker. 401 feet later, the Cardinals had a 7-0 lead. BOOM!
It wasn’t all sunshine and roses for Andre Pallante. He pitched out of a bases-loaded jam in the bottom of the 3rd inning without allowing the Mets to score, but wasn’t as fortunate in the bottom of the 4th as AJ Ewing walked and then Francisco Alvarez put a charge into an 85 mph Pallante slider that didn’t slide enough as it traveled 368 feet hitting just above the home run line in left cutting the Cardinals lead down to 7-2. When all was said and done by Andre, he gave the Cardinals a solid full 6 innings allowing just 3 hits and 2 earned runs while striking out 5 and walking 2. Not bad at all.
The St. Louis Cardinals continued to live up to their relentless offensive reputation as they immediately grabbed another run back in the top of the 5th inning as Masyn Winn singled followed by a flyout from Velasquez and a fielder’s choice groundout by Nathan Church. With Winn on second, Jose Fermin singled him in upping the St. Louis lead to 8-2.
Matt Svanson was the Cardinals relief arm for the 7th inning. He did what you want to see happen when you have a big lead. He came in throwing strikes and had all three outs after throwing only 6 pitches. Efficient! Matt also took care of the 8th inning for St. Louis while only throwing 7 more! JoJo Romero was giving bottom of the 9th duties Wednesday night and the Mets did nothing to foil him. I could have just said the Mets did nothing which would also have been accurate. (unless you consider Magaman getting hit on the toe as doing something)
How did the Cardinals end up with 9 runs instead of just 8? That was Alec Burleson extending his hitting streak to 10 games with an 89 mph cutter that he turned into a 408 foot home run into the right field stands. BOOM (again)!
The St. Louis Cardinals will continue their joyride in New York Wednesday afternoon as Hunter Dobbins will get the start for the Redbirds. The New York Mets will hope Christian Scott can pull off a miracle as he will take the mound for the metros. First pitch is scheduled for 12:10pm central time and the broadcast will be available on Cardinals.tv.
