Final Score: Cardinals 4, Mets 3—DeJong Destroys DeMets

After barely managing to hold onto the game last night, the Mets were not able to salvage a series split today. In spite of outhitting the Cardinals ten to three, the Amazins were unable to capitalize on several opportunities, and a timely homer off the bat of Paul DeJong gave St. Louis a 4-3 victory.

One of the Cardinals three hits came in the first inning, and it immediately gave the Cardinals half of their final tally of runs, as Paul Goldschmidt socked a two-run homer off Jason Vargas. The Mets were able to come back from this early deficit and give themselves a brief lead in this game, as the team managed three RBI singles in the first three innings—one in the first off the bat of J.D. Davis, and two in the third from Adeiny Hechavarria and Juan Lagares—to make the score 3-2. But the team wasted several opportunities to put more runs on the board, and the Cardinals managed to make their way back. They tied up the game in the fourth thanks in large part to a misplay by Hechavarria which turned what should have been a double play into the Cardinals having the bases loaded with nobody out which resulted in one run scoring off a fielder’s choice double play. The team traded scoreless innings for a while after that until Paul DeJong—who has managed an astonishing nine home runs in just 82 career at-bats against the Mets—hit a solo homer in the 8th off of Chris Flexen, and the Mets were unable to muster up any offense of their own to respond.

In other unfortunate news from today’s loss, Jason Vargas had to depart the game after throwing just four innings after straining his left calf on a swing during a plate appearance. Wilmer Font came in and managed to pitch three solid innings to prevent the bullpen from being abused too significantly as a result of this early departure, but with a lengthy stretch of games without an off-day upcoming, any unnecessary strain on the relief corps is undesirable. On the brighter side of things, the recently acquired Brooks Pounder made his debut for the Mets in the ninth inning and threw a scoreless inning. One might also take comfort in the fact that Robinson Cano made his return to the team without much of a hitch, going 1-3 with a double and a walk and not demonstrating any visible discomfort from the left quad injury that forced him to undergo two separate IL stints.

Full recap to follow.

GameThread Roll Call

Nice job by MetsFan4Decades; her effort in the GameThread embiggens us all.

1. MetsFan4Decades: 87
2. MookieTheCat: 38
3. deegie: 36
4. John Oldnrude: 34
5. David G: 27
6. David Klein: 26
7. BK_Machetero3191: 24
8. Teddy2Diggs: 23
9. NateW: 20
10. IPA: 20