The New York Mets defeated the St. Louis Cardinals on Sunday Night Baseball tonight by the score of 6-1, yes one, the Cardinals were able to score their first run of the series through 27 innings so far in this four game series against their former division rivals.
The Mets jumped out first in the bottom half of the opening inning as Andres Torres doubled with one out followed by a David Wright walk. Lucas Duda was up next and singled to right field to put the Mets up 1-0, Daniel Murphy singled to load the bases but the next two batters were retired as the Mets left the bases loaded.
In the top of the second inning, Mets’ starter Jon Niese struck out the side with a one out walk sandwiched in between as Niese went on to strike out a career-high 10 batters on the night. Niese singled with on out in the bottom of the inning followed by Kirk Nieuwenhuis singling but neither Torres or Wright could bring them around.
In the top of the fourth Niese scattered a few base runners while striking out another trio of Redbirds to end the threat. New York added a pair of runs in the bottom of the inning when Niese singled again for the second time followed by Nieuwenhuis hitting a two out two run home run to right field to put the Mets up 3-0.
In the bottom of the sixth the Mets doubled up on their lead as Omar Quintanilla led off with a walk followed by Josh Thole singling, two batters later Nieuwenhuis singled to bring home Quintanilla. The next batter was Torres who tripled down the right field line to chase home the pair and put the Mets up by six.
In the top of the eighth after Bobby Parnell retired the Cardinals in the seventh, Elvin Ramirez came on to make his Major League debut in the eighth inning. David Freese singled on the first pitch he saw and advanced to second on a groundout, two batters later Adron Chambers singled home Freese and end the Mets’ streak of 25 2/3 innings without allowing a run in the series and make the score 6-1.
Frank Francisco came on to close the game out in the ninth and did just that after working around a one out error by Wright to end the ballgame and clinch the series victory for the Mets against the defending World Series Champions.
GAME BALL: Jon Niese was outstanding, his curveball was unhittable tonight which attributed for his 10 strikeouts. He also got two hits at the plate, not too shabby for the worst hitting pitcher on the staff.
Tomorrow the Mets go for the four-game sweep against St. Louis as they send Dillon Gee to the hill against Kyle Lohse at 1:10 p.m. back on SNY and on WFAN.
