The New York Mets (11-9) played their second game of a three-game series at Busch Stadium against the St. Louis Cardinals (11-9) and lost by a score of 10-2. (Box Score)

Pitching:

Chris Flexen was brought up from Syracuse to make a start due to Jacob DeGrom’s sore elbow. Flexen is on full rest having made his previous start last Friday. He has a 5.25 ERA over two starts in Syracuse.

Flexen had a strong first inning, but things started to fall apart in the second. The Cardinals first run came on a passed ball through Wilson Ramos‘ legs. This was the Mets 17th unearned run this season. Miles Mikolas drove in two more runs later in the inning.

Flexen continued to struggle in the third as Jose Martinez slapped a liner to center bringing in Paul DeJong.

In the fifth, Yadi Molina singled a groundball bringing in Marcell Ozuna. Luis Avilan relieved Flexen in the middle of the 5th and Avilan was able to finish the inning.

However, Avilan continued to struggle as he gave up an RBI double to Paul DeJong in the 6th. Jacob Rhame would relieve Avilan later in the 6th.

Rhame allowed a two-run double, courtesy of the blazing hot Jose Martinez in the seventh.

Paul Sewald was brought in for the final innings, however, Paul Goldschmidt got the best of him as he hit a moonshot to left field, leaving the score at 9-2.

Offense:

Amed Rosario and Pete Alonso both had hits stolen early by the slick-fielding of Paul DeJong and the curveball of Miles Mikolas stifled Mets hitters, with the first hit coming in the fourth inning off of a Robinson Cano single.

Chris Flexen knocked the ball up the middle in the fifth. It was his third hit ever recorded in the major leagues. Michael Conforto smacked a hard-hit ball to left field only for Marcell Ozuna to catch it at the wall.

In the top of the seventh, Jeff McNeil beat out a throw from Paul DeJong recoding his 100th career hit in 291 at-bats. With that McNeil has become the fastest player to 100 hits in Mets history!

Amed Rosario legged out a triple hit to right center which drove Jeff McNeil in. This was only the third triple of the year for New York. J.D. Davis then grounded out to the shortstop and Rosario was able to make it home, cutting down the lead to 9-2.

On Deck:

The Mets look to bounce back tomorrow with Noah Syndergaard (1-1, 5.63 ERA) on the bump against Dakota Hudson (0-1, 6.08 ERA). The first pitch will be at 2:15 EST with the game being broadcast on PIX-11.