The Mets (47-43) were defeated by the St. Louis Cardinals (57-33) by a score of 3-2 tonight at Busch Stadium.
Curtis Granderson kicked off the second half of the season by hitting a lead off home run to give Noah Syndergaard a lead before he even took the mound. The last sixteen runs the Mets have scored have come via the home run.
Unfortunately for Syndergaard, the Mets offensive woes carried over from the first half, as the Granderson home run was the only support Thor would receive.
Noah was able to hold the slim lead until the sixth inning. Kolten Wong lead off the inning with a single, and advanced to third on a steal and a throwing error from Kevin Plawecki.
Matt Carpenter tied the game up for St. Louis, driving in Wong from third on a ground out to first base.
Jhonny Peralta hit a solo home run two batters later to give the Cardinals their first lead of the night, 2-1.
The next batter Jason Heyward tripled, but Syndergaard was able to strand him at third.
Thor finished his day going seven strong innings, allowing two runs on five hits, while walking one and striking out six. He falls to 4-5 on the season after getting slapped with a tough luck loss.
In the seventh inning, Terry Collins was ejected after arguing balls and strikes with home plate umpire Chad Fairchild. Collins was unhappy with the strike zone all night, and with Lucas Duda at the plate, he was thrown from the game.
What should have been a spark for Mets players, the quiet offense still couldn’t muster up any type of offense, a reoccurring theme of the season.
In the eighth inning, the Cardinals tacked on another run as Kolten Wong singled to lead off the frame, and came around to score on a double from Peter Bourjos.
Trevor Rosenthal shut the door out of the ‘pen for the Cardinals despite some adversity and the Mets getting the tying run to third, after Lance Lynn turned in seven strong innings, and Kevin Siegrist kept the Mets at bay in the eighth.
All I can say is, rest up and get ’em tomorrow.
On deck:
The series continues tomorrow night with Bartolo Colon (9-7, 4.46 ERA) taking the ball for the Mets, and is opposed by John Lackey (7-5, 2.99 ERA). First pitch is at 7:15 PM.
