NEW YORK — Cardinals starter Andre Pallante was able to find traction and overcome a second inning that boiled over into a four-run mess.
The offense at his back never could.
Mets starter Griffin Canning whisked through the Cardinals’ lineup in the middle innings, and what he started closer Edwin Diaz finished for a 4-1 victory Thursday night at Citi Field. One of April’s most productive offenses was limited to three hits and one run by four Mets pitchers. Immediately after the Mets took a lead with a four-run inning against Pallante (2-1), Canning (2-1) went through the Cardinals’ lineup for a second time and struck out seven of the nine batters faced.
Deceptive with his release, Canning struck out eight total in his six innings.
Diaz walked the first batter he faced in the ninth, but never faced the potential tying run at the plate by retiring the next three batters. The Cardinals struck out 11 times in the game.
People are also reading…
The Mets had several hits foiled by the reach of Gold Glove-winner Nolan Arenado.
The Cardinals third baseman made a series of plays – well, call it a clinic because he showed a variety of different ways he could steal a hit. In the third inning he raced across the infield to barehand a grounder and make the throw in time for the final out of the inning. In the fifth, a backhand play on a hotshot from Juan Soto ended the inning.
And in the seventh, Arenado made sure a rookie’s major-league debut was a scoreless one by jabbing to his right to snag a liner and keep a run from scoring.
The play against Soto kept the Mets’ $765-million man in an early-season funk that deepened during the Mets’ recent road trip. Soto walked in the eighth inning but remained hitless for the game. He’ll take a 3 for 25 doldrum into Friday night’s game.
Pallante gets a second wind
It’s supposed to be the third time through a lineup that gives a starter the fits, but Pallante flipped the statistics and decided to get the mayhem out of the way earlier.
The Mets’ first look at the Cardinals’ right-hander on Thursday evening, the lineup five hits, two for extra-bases, and Francisco Lindor came around for a second crack at Pallante he singled again. By the end of the second inning, the Mets were 6 for 10 against Pallante with four runs scored and a home run. Mark Vientos stirred the four-run second inning against Pallante with a leadoff home run – his first home run of a season.
Once he escaped the second, Pallante thrived.
He retired 12 of the next 13 Mets he faced after the mayhem in the second. Of those dozen outs, only one of them came beyond the reach of an infielder or the catcher. Lindor’s two-out single in the fifth for a third hit against Pallante went nowhere because Pallante retired the three Mets around Lindor on groundouts. Two were meek. The third lost its hope to be hit in the glove of Cardinals third baseman Nolan Arenado.
The hairpin turn to Pallante’s results – from five hits in one inning to one in the next four innings – saved the bullpen from excess innings and bought time for a rally, if the offense could muster one. Shifting his use of pitches, Pallante provided six innings and all of the four runs he allowed came in the sixth. He struck out two and did what that fastball of his usually does.
Twelve of his 18 outs came on groundballs.
With the way it started, it could have been worse.
It also should have been better …
Lindor lures Cardinals
The fourth run that Pallante allowed in the second came long after he threw the pitch that began the play and right as the Cardinals’ defense made the mistake of biting when Lindor baited them.
The Mets’ shortstop, who finished runner for the National League MVP this past season, singled to score teammate Brett Baty with two outs in the second. That opened up the Mets’ lead to 3-0, but Lindor saw the opportunity to try and steal an additional run. He singled to right field, and he took an aggressive turn around first base to draw the Cardinals into a rundown.
Once he did, he waved teammate Tyrone Taylor home for third.
Instead of giving Lindor second, the Cardinals turned to run him down for the third out, but that cost them time – and gave it to Taylor to score the fourth run.
Svanson makes MLB debut
Brought up to provide coverage in case of need Wednesday, Matt Svanson made his major-league debut with a scoreless seventh Thursday. The strapping right-hander earned a spot on the 40-player roster this past offseason with 27 saves at Class AA Springfield, and through his limited work in Triple-A Memphis this season he had a 1.59 ERA in 5 2/3 innings.
Svanson challenged the Mets with a sinker that touched 97.3 mph and averaged 96.2 mph. He got a groundball from the first batter he faced, and he allowed a double to the third batter he faced. The inning ended for the right-handed rookie with a lineout.
Donovan streaks to career high
An infield single that brought in the Cardinals’ first run also extended a hitting streak beyond a previous career high for Brendan Donovan.
The Cardinals’ starting shortstop Thursday, Donovan hit a hard grounder up the middle that Lindor reached to smother but not pick clean. The base hit drove home Victor Scott II to end Channing’s scoreless outing. It also extended Donovan’s hitting streak to 13 games, a new career high for the Cardinals’ infielder.
It remains the longest active streak in the majors.
Through that at-bat, Donovan was 23 for 48 during his hitting streak. He started Thursday’s game leading the majors in hits and one shy of the Cardinals’ record for most hits through the first 18 games of the season. Matt Carpenter had 28 in 2015 to Donovan’s 27.
Donovan also increased his hitting streak against the Mets to 11 consecutive games, and in that span the infield single was his 19th hit.
Donovan’s single to score Scott came with two outs and after two strikeouts. The inning didn’t go anywhere from there, and Channing retired 10 of the next 11 Cardinals he faced. Five of those outs were strikeouts.
