ST. LOUIS, Mo. – The Mets can prevent runs. But can they score them?
Ivan Herrera was intentionally walked to lead off the 11th inning and Alec Burleson’s double play moved JJ Wetherholt to third. That’s when Masyn Winn looped Tobias Myers’ cutter into the no-man’s land between first base and right to drive in the winning run, as the Cardinals beat the Mets, 2-1, at Busch Stadium.
Before that, the Mets squandered a bases-loaded, one-out situation in the 11th.
With Juan Soto on third and one out in the 11th, Chris Roycroft walked Jared Young and Luis Robert Jr. to load the bases. That was enough for Roycroft, who was lifted for Gordon Graceffo. Brett Baty then hit a sharp ground ball to second and Soto was forced out at home. Marcus Semien flied out to right to leave them loaded.
The Mets went 0-for-11 with runners in scoring position and left 11 on base.
Offense was scarce, and the Mets didn’t record a hit off Matthew Liberatore until Mark Vientos’ two-out double in the fifth (Semien walked but Francsico Alvarez struck out swinging to douse the meager threat).
The Cardinals, meanwhile, managed a single off Freddy Peralta in the first and nothing else until the fifth, when the righty was able to grit his way out of a two-on, no-out jam. Nolan Gorman led off the inning with a walk and Thomas Saggese singled. A force out at second and a wild pitch put both runners in scoring position. Pedro Pages, though, swung over a 1-and-2 curveball and Victor Scott II grounded out to strand the runners.
Francisco Lindor, who appeared to lose track of the number of outs in the first inning and settled for the force when a double play may have been possible, reached on an error with one out in the sixth but committed a second mental error – getting picked off without attempting to go back to the bag. That would potentially cost the Mets a run, as Soto hit his first home run of the year in the next at-bat – squeaking the ball just inside the right foul pole to put the Mets up 1-0. It was their first run in 17 innings.
Peralta allowed the first two runners to reach in the sixth, on a single and a walk, and stayed in to strike out the lefty Burleson before getting lifted for Huascar Brazoban. Brazoban got the second out, but a sharp single by Gorman tied the score at 1.
Peralta, bouncing back from an uneven first start, allowed one run and three hits with two walks and seven strikeouts in 5 1/3 innings.
Laura Albanese is the Mets beat writer for Newsday. She’s been covering MLB since 2014 after starting at Newsday as an intern seven years earlier.