St. Louis Cardinals: The Mets implode and the Cards win 9-1

The St. Louis Cardinals took advantage of the mistake prone New York Mets to win Game 2 of the series, 9-1.  Michael Wacha pitched six strong innings backed by a solid Cardinal defense.

New York Mets starter, Steven Matz, was unable to overcome three errors by his defense and the St. Louis Cardinals took full advantage to win the second game of the three game series.

The scoring started in the top of third inning when Jay Bruce singled in Michael Conforto to take a 1-0 lead.  However, the Mets left the bases loaded as Michael Wacha got out of his most difficult inning of the game.

The St. Louis Cardinals scoring started in the bottom of the third when Kolten Wong reached on an infield hit.  Michael Wacha then reached first base on the first of three Mets errors for the game.  Harrison Bader drew a walk to load the bases, and Wong then scored on a Dexter Fowler fly ball.  Jose Martinez singles to load the bases again, followed by a Marcell Ozuna’s two run single.  The Cardinals held a 3-1 lead.

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After a Wacha 1-2-3 inning in the top of the fourth, the Cardinals put up four runs in their half of the fourth.  With errors by the Mets and a squeeze bunt by Wacha that brought in Paul DeJong, the Mets removed Matz and brought in Corey Oswalt.  Martinez and Ozuna picked up RBIs as the Cardinals took a 7-1 lead.

The only scoring after the fourth inning occured in the fifth when Jedd Gyorko hit a two run homer to give the Cards a 9-1 lead.

Michael Wacha pitched six strong innings to get his fourth win and John Brebbia had three strong innings of relief to earn his first save.

Game Takeaways

-Although the Cardinals scored nine runs, they only had 7 hits and five earned runs.

-Paul DeJong appears to have completely come out his slump with a 2-4 night that has raised his batting average to .271.

-Aided by Jose Martnez’s bat, hopefully,  Ozuna’s two run single in the third is a sign he is coming out of his two week slump.

-Michael Wacha has lowered his ERA to 3.62 and had eight strikeouts.  Wacha has allowed only two earned runs in his last 12 innings of work.

-Kolten Wong continues his stellar defense at second base and managing to scrap out hits.  Wong had two infield hits in tonight’s game.

-John Brebbia continues to prove he belongs in the Cardinal Bullpen with three more strong innings and holds an ERA of 0.00.

-Dexter Fowler didn’t get a hit in tonight’s game,  but was credited with two RBIs on a fly ball and a walk.

–Tommy Pham was taken out of the game in the third inning and replaced by Harrison Bader.  Pham apparently suffered a laceration to the head between innings.  Interviewed after the game, Pham didn’t think it was serious.

Conclusions

The Cardinals should be credited for coming back from Tuesday night’s disappointing loss.  This team is playing with energy and confidence, something Cardinals fans didn’t see last year.

Next: A look at the offense so far

The St. Louis Cardinals finish their three game series with the New York Mets tomorrow at 12:15.  Carlos Martinez(2-1, 1.42 ERA) goes up against Noah Syndergaard(2-0, 3.29 ERA).