ST. LOUIS --
The Cardinals’ best chance to overcome another overpowering performance by Max Scherzer in a taut game in his hometown was to wait for his pitch count to do what they could not — slow him down.
Once the Cardinals got past Scherzer and ahead on the scoreboard, that’s when another problem surfaced.
Free from Scherzer’s grip on the game after his seven scoreless innings, the Cardinals struck for a two-run lead that the bullpen and defense could not cement in the ninth inning.
An error prolonged the inning, a close play at first turned it upside down, and a home run paved the way for the Mets to reclaim what Scherzer earned. Pinch-hitter Dominic Smith’s two-run single that hit first base tied the game and put the Mets’ ahead on their way to a 5-2 victory Monday night at Busch Stadium.
The Mets’ first run of the inning against Giovanny Gallegos scored on Nolan Arenado’s overthrow of first base.
That cut the Cardinals’ lead in half, and a two-out double from Jeff McNeil put the tying run at third base. Smith pulled a hard grounder down the first-base line. Paul Goldschmidt dived to glove the grounder and he flipped toward Gallegos at first base. Gallegos was not able to outrun Smith for the game-ending out, and McNeil used the opportunity to sprint around third and score to the tiebreaking run. Goldschmidt pointed for the throw to go home but Gallegos turned to make the play too late.
It took one more pitch for it not to matter.
Brandon Nimmo socked a two-run homer off T.J. McFarland, around the right-field foul pole to set the final score and give Gallegos his first blown save of the season, the Cardinals first loss in the ninth inning since their last game of the 2021 season.
Mets closer Edwin Diaz pitched around a walk for his second save of the season and the Mets' 13th victory.
The first Cardinal who faced a Mets pitcher other than Scherzer singled and so did the second as the Cardinals staged an eighth-inning rally for the first runs of the game. Starter Miles Mikolas made it possible with seven shutout innings opposite Scherzer’s brilliant seven scoreless innings in his first game back in St. Louis with his new team, the Mets. Tyler O’Neill capitalized on his first crack at someone other than Scherzer staring at him from the mound to provide the first runs of the game before the dramatic hairpin that came in the ninth.
To open the bottom of the eighth inning, Yadier Molina, his average sinking beneath .125 for the season, greeted Mets reliever Trevor May with a groundball single to center. No. 9 hitter Harrison Bader followed by lifting a single to center field that put Molina in scoring position.
Rookie Brendan Donovan, newly promoted from Class AAA Memphis, made his major-league debut as Molina’s pinch-runner. He scored the first run of the game.
O’Neill had struck out two previous at-bats against Scherzer. In the third inning, with a runner in scoring position, Scherzer struck out the Cardinals’ No. 3 hitter on three pitches. In the eighth, after Paul Goldschmidt walked to load the bases, O’Neill took a 98-mph fastball for a first-pitch strike from May. The next pitch — a changeup — O’Neill laced to left field to score both Donovan and Bader and give the Cardinals a two-run lead to cement into a win in the ninth.
The two RBIs on one swing gave O’Neill his first multi-RBI game since the five he had opening day against Pittsburgh at Busch.
He celebrated with a tiny pump of his fist.
Mikolas continued to build on his run of steady starts, a run unlike any he’s had since his All-Star turn in 2018. The Cardinals’ first start to get an out in the seventh inning became the first Cardinals starter to complete the seventh inning as he matched Scherzer zero for zero to get the scoreless game into the eighth.
While Scherzer overwhelmed the Cardinals, Mikolas undermined the Mets.
He tested them low in the strike zone and at a variety of speeds. Mikolas had a fastball touch 95.3 mph and a curve that dropped in at 67.3 mph. The right-hander minimized hard contact by upsetting the Mets’ timing, and though the Mets were able to slip a few base hits into the innings, Mikolas adroitly pitched around them. He allowed a single and hit a batter in the second inning, but before the Mets could get a runner to third base he had a groundout and a strikeout to neutralize the threat. In the fifth, a one-out double by Jeff McNeil became nothing more than a stranded runner at second when Mikolas slashed a slider past Tomas Nido for a strikeout and then got an inning-ending flyout to center.
McNeil was the last of the Mets to get into a scoring position on Mikolas before the Cardinals’ bullpen inherited the scoreless game for the eighth.
In his past three starts, Mikolas has allowed a single run in 18 2/3 innings.
Scherzer has a similar start going vs. the Cardinals, and he’s been almost as impressive in his visits to St. Louis.
Since the Cardinals have shown such little interest in signing or trading for the hometown Hall of Famer each time he’s become available to them, only the calendar brings Scherzer to St. Louis.
And then he shows what they’ve been missing.
Scherzer, the Parkway Central grad and Mizzou great, cut his ERA at Busch III down to 1.74 in seven starts, a span that covers nearly 50 innings pitched at the downtown ballpark. In four of the future Hall of Famer's past five starts there, he’s pitched at least seven innings and not allowed an earned run. The seven scoreless Monday night gives him an consecutive innings streak of 21 without allowing an earned run to the Cardinals. And while he’s had longer starts and more strikeouts in starts against the Cardinals, few match Monday’s for just sheer ruthlessness.
Scherzer struck out 10 batters.
Five of them on three pitches.
Two of the other five came on four pitches.
Shortstop Edmundo Sosa struck out three times, and he did so on 10 pitches. Sosa fouled off a pitch in the seventh inning before whiffing on Scherzer’s 101st and final pitch.
Sosa missed a 93.7-mph fastball.
To carry the scoreless game into the bottom of the eighth inning, lefty Genesls Cabrera relieved Mikolas for the top of the eighth and snagged a win and a grin with his perfect inning. He was caught smiling after striking out Mets' outfielder Starling Marte for the second out of the inning.
