St. Louis Cardinals Beat Mets In Stealth Pounding

Carlos Martinez hit 99 miles per hour on several fastballs Monday night. The lefty Nick Greenwood touched 88. It was a good contrast, as Martinez pitched four innings, and Greenwood three and one-third, en route to a 6-2 win over the New York Mets. Greenwood earned the victory, the first for a St. Louis Cardinals relief pitcher making his major league debut since 1988.

The only Cardinals in the starting lineup to not reach by hit were Matt Carpenter and Kolten Wong. Allen Craig had three hits, including a run-scoring double. Matt Adams looped a run-scoring triple to right field. Matt Holliday collected his 1,000th career run batted in with a single in the fifth inning. Jon Jay and Jhonny Peralta each had two hits, with the former scoring three times.

Martinez mowed through the Mets order in the first two innings. The pitch count began to pile up on him in the third, when he walked light-hitting Ruben Tejada to start the inning. After a successful sacrifice bunt by rookie pitcher Jacob deGrom, (batting eighth), Eric Young singled on the infield. Curtis Granderson followed with a sacrifice fly to tie the game, 1-1.

The Cardinals immediately answered in the bottom of the frame. Sandwiching outs around singles, the Cardinals got four hits in the inning, scoring only once. With Craig on second base and two outs, Yadier Molina singled to left. Eric Young fired home and catcher Taylor Teagarden tagged Craig on the arm as he attempted to evade the tag.

Martinez escaped a second and third, no outs situation unscathed in the fourth inning. Bobby Abreu walked. Lucas Duda followed with a double to right field. After a pop out, Martinez again fell behind Ruben Tejada, eventually walking him intentionally to load the bases. The pitcher deGrom hit a line smash that Wong flagged down. Martinez struck out Eric Young to end the threat.

The Cardinals finally knocked deGrom out of the game with a barrage of hits in the fifth inning. They scored four times on five hits. Matt Carpenter struck out to lead off the inning. Jay doubled. Holliday singled him home. Then Craig doubled and was knocked in by Adams’ triple. deGrom walked Molina and Adams scored on a single by Peralta. Mets reliever Dana Eveland got Wong to ground into a force-out, and Nick Greenwood grounded out.

The Mets added a tally in the eight inning that was charged to Greenwood. Daniel Murphy and David Wright singled consecutively with one out. Manager Mike Matheny called for Randy Choate, who promptly served up a run-scoring single to pinch hitter Chris Young. Choate struck out Duda on a full count. Seth Maness replaced Choate. Mets manager Terry Collins responded by pinch hitting Matt den Dekker for Teagarden. Maness got den Dekker to ground out to Peralta.

Carlos Martinez and Nick Greenwood held the Mets in check while Cardinals batters steadily pounded away at Jacob deGrom. Mike Matheny couldn’t have drawn it up any better.