ST. LOUIS _ As concerns have been raised about Zack Wheeler, the righty did what he could Saturday to try to abate those worries. He pitched a fine outing against the Cardinals, keeping the Mets within striking distance against Adam Wainwright.
The outing marked a step forward, but it came in a loss as the Mets hitters were quieted in a 4-1 defeat to the Cardinals at Busch Stadium. Wheeler (3-6) allowed two runs in six innings, but the Mets (39-46) managed just two at-bats with runners in scoring position.
The Mets will try to finish the first half on a positive note in Sunday's rubber match.
There were concerns about Wheeler entering this outing due to his previous three starts and his recent stint on the disabled list with biceps tendinitis that may have been rooted in fatigue. Wheeler also has struggled to locate his secondary pitches.
The righty failed to complete four innings in any of his previous three outings, lasting 71/3 innings while allowing 17 runs (15 earned) on 17 hits.
Wheeler had no problems clearing four innings Saturday, and limited damage despite the Cardinals putting plenty of runners on base in the middle innings. The Cardinals also helped the righty with some base-running blunders that ended threats.
St. Louis claimed a 1-0 lead when Paul DeJong homered to start the third, and Wheeler encountered a jam when the Cardinals put two runners on with two outs for cleanup hitter, Jedd Gyorko. The threat ended with Gyorko still at the plate when Travis d'Arnaud threw out Tommy Pham while the center fielder attempted to steal second base.
One inning later, the Cardinals put two on with two outs, and the Mets ended the inning with a strike-em-out, throw-em-out double play, completed with d'Arnaud throwing out Yadier Molina at third. D'Arnaud entered the day having allowed 26-of-30 steals.
The Cardinals added an insurance run in the sixth for a 2-0 lead when Pham tallied the Cardinals' first stolen base, and Molina followed with an RBI double. That proved to be the only hit Wheeler allowed with a runner in scoring position in seven chances.
Wheeler allowed eights hits while striking out five in a 102-pitch effort.
"We got to make sure everything physically is OK, which he says he is," Mets manager Terry Collins said before the game. "I want to make sure that we see with some rest that he is kind of getting some energy back in the arm. Like I said, velocity been pretty good. Hasn't commanded his secondary stuff, so when he gets behind in the count, there's only one pitch to look for. We got to get him to be able to use his other pitches."
The two runs he allowed proved to be too much, though, as the Mets were stymied by Wainwright, who entered the game with a 5.03 ERA against the team. It was his highest ERA against any team he's faced at least three times.
The Mets tallied just one hit against him through the first four innings while forcing him to throw just 39 pitches, and did not place their first runner in scoring position until there were two outs in the fifth. A groundout by d'Arnaud ended the threat in a 1-0 game.
Jay Bruce finally got the Mets on board with his second homer in as many days when he hit a solo shot with one out in the seventh to slice the lead to 2-1.
A pair of singles put two on with two outs in the inning and knocked Wainwright from the game, but Matt Bowman retired d'Arnaud to strand a pair of runners.
Wainwright yielded one run on five hits in 62/3 innings.
The Mets bullpen hurt the cause in the later innings with Fernando Salas and Rafael Montero allowing runs to put the Mets in a 4-1 hole.
The tying run came to the plate with one out in the ninth inning, but Lucas Duda and Jose Reyes each flied out.
