The Cardinals woes continue as they drop the series opener to the Mets 4-3 in St. Louis Monday night.
St. Louis sent veteran Kyle Gibson to the mound who found himself in early trouble in the first inning. After a two-out walk to Francisco Lindor, DJ Stewart drove a ball that split the left-center gap for an RBI double putting the Mets up 1-0
Gibson was able to settle in and only found trouble in the fifth after two singles to start the inning coupled with a Lars Nootbaar error set the Mets up second and third nobody out. A Starling Marte RBI groundout and a Lindor sacrifice fly stretched the lead 3-0 in New York’s favor.
Gibson was able to complete six inning while giving up three runs (two earned) on seven hits while striking out four. This continues Gibson’s strong start to the season as this was his third quality start in a row and fifth total over his first seven outings.
The Cardinals offense got off to a slow start as they were shutout through the first five innings by Mets Starter Sean Manaea.
The Offensive unit got it moving in the sixth with a José Fermín leadoff single. Willson Contreras followed that by taking a 1-1 slider 105MPH down the left field line for an RBI double. A subsequent walk to Paul Goldschmidt put runners on first and third with nobody out. After a pair of fly outs Ivan Herrera came through with a clutch double in the left-center gap that scored both Contreras and Goldschmidt tying the game 3-3.
The tie game was short lived as Andrew Kittredge came in and gave up a solo home run to Brandon Nimmo in the top of the seventh to put the Mets back on top 4-3.
This is where the score would stay as the Mets bullpen shut the Cardinals down giving them their third loss in a row and dropping their record to 15-20.
Despite only three runs being scored, the Cardinals had eight hits in the game with five of them being doubles. It feels that this offense is on the verge of breaking out but to do so they are going to have to start hitting with runners in scoring position. Tonight they went only 1-for-6 in such opportunities.
I feel like a broken record talking about this in seemingly all of my recaps but it is truly a huge problem. The Cardinals are the worst in the National League with a .202 average with runners in scoring position and that is a big reason why this team is where it is.
The Cardinals will look to right the ship Tuesday evening in Busch stadium as Miles Mikolas takes on José Buttó. First pitch is 6:45 CST.