ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½

NEW YORK — A tie game the Cardinals created with a solo homer in the top of the ninth inning, disappeared just as quickly into the New York night in the bottom of the ninth.

Francisco Lindor drilled the third pitch of the inning from Ryan Fernandez deep into the right-field seats for a walk-off, 5-4 victory Friday night at Citi Field.

A seesaw game that saw the Cardinals take an early lead, lose it, and then catch up to the Mets with Brendan Donovan’s leadoff homer in the ninth ended one batter into the bottom of the ninth. The crowd had barely finished singing along to Lindor’s walk-up song when Fernandez’s pitch sailed out into the distant seats of right field. Lindor’s eighth career walk-off hit and second homer of the season assured the Mets of a split in the Cardinals’ four-day visit to Queens.

Nolan Arenado momentarily blocked the Mets’ momentum in the eighth inning with a play that took a lengthy, high-def review to determine if the ump got the call correct.

Brandon Nimmo skipped a grounder to Arenado that gave the Gold Glove-winner a choice – either go to first for the out and concede third to a runner or try to beat the fleet-footed runner, Luisangle Acuna, to third. Arenado charged toward third. His dive to intercept Acuna before reaching the base was unsuccessful. When Acuna over slid the bag, Arenado pounced. Whether he got his glove to Acuna’s arm before Acuna got his finger to the base was the subject of the Mets’ challenge.

The call on the field was out, and the replay officials did not see enough to overturn it.

The snappy defensive play was undone a short time later by a error. Phil Maton misfired on a pickoff throw, and that put a Met back in scoring position for Luis Torrens’ go-ahead double.

In a start to test if he could continue what worked in his previous, encouraging outing, Cardinals starter Miles Mikolas had his moments. He twice got Juan Soto to groundout, and he bebopped around a walk here, a triple there, and a stolen base somewhere to keep the Mets scoreless through four innings. Mikolas would leave with the score tied, 2-2, after allowing two runs on five hits and strikeout one in his 4 2/3 innings.

Mikolas outlasts in 10-pitch duel

The lengthy at-bat that preserved a lead and likely got him into the fifth inning may have been part of the reason why Mikolas did not finish the fifth inning.

A leadoff walk to Pete Alonso and a two-out single from Brandon Nimmo put the tying runs on base and gave the Mets their latest chance to dent Mikolas’ scoreless line. Previous innings had faltered with runners in scoring position in the first and third, and here was catcher Torrens with an opportunity to avoid doing the same.

Torrens fouled off five consecutive 2-2 pitches from Mikolas, and he didn’t play favorites. Mikolas delivered a four-seam fastball, and Torrens fouled it away. Torrens fouled off three different breaking balls, and he fouled off another fastball.

For the 10th pitch, Mikolas pulled a Wainwright.

He cold-snapped a 76.4-mph curve that froze just another Met in Queens.

Soto knots game, bounces Mikolas

Mikolas marooned two Mets in the fourth inning, and that was prelude to getting a third time through the lineup by the fifth inning. The Cardinals have been conservative with pitch counts and matchups like a third time through, though a six-man rotation and rigorous stretch of games has them looking to get more innings from each starter.

The fifth was the pivot for Mikolas.

The bottom of the Mets order tagged the right-hander with a leadoff double and a follow-up triple. In two swings, the Mets cleaved the Cardinals’ lead in half. No. 9 hitter Tyrone Taylor skipped the triple past center field Michael Siani to score Brett Baty, and that combo meant a decision for the Cardinals’ dugout. Juan Soto loomed two batters after Taylor, and the question became whether Mikolas or a lefty – John King was warming – would get the $765-million man.

Mikolas did.

Soto got him, too.

With boos murmuring in the crowd at Citi Field for their .221-hitting centerpiece and his 3-for-27 lull, Soto pulled a single to right field to score Taylor and knot the score, 2-2.

Mikolas remained in the game to face right-handed slugger Pete Alonso and, with help from a diving play from shortstop Saggese, retired him for the second out. That was when King came in to neutralize left-handed batter Jesse Winker – and got a lineout. The use of King for Winker and not Soto likely had to do with the matchup in that moment and management of innings to come that would allow for JoJo Romero to face both Francisco Lindor and Soto later in the seventh.

Still knotted after six

Immediately after misplacing their lead, the Cardinals answered to regain it.

Willson Contreras cracked a double off the wall to end his 0-for-14 search and get into scoring position, and before the Mets could blink twice for help, Arenado had the Cardinals back in the lead with a single to left. The jump to a quick run elbowed Mets starter David Peterson out of the sixth inning after one out. The lefty allowed the three runs on seven hits, and he limited those rallies to one run apiece by striking out eight. He struck out the side in order in the third.

As quickly as the Cardinals retook the lead, they lost it again.

Mark Vientos, who started the series batting .145, led off the sixth inning with a game-knotting homer against Cardinals’ reliever Kyle Leavy. The homer was Vientos’ second in as many games and it leveled the score for the late innings.

Donovan’s streak yields run

In his first opportunity of the evening, Donovan did more than extend his hitting streak to 14 games. He sparked the Cardinals’ first lead.

The Cardinals infielder – who started at second base Friday – laced a single up the middle with one out in the second inning. The base hit added to the longest active hitting streak in the majors even as it helped the Cardinals halt their own stretch without much offensively. Donovan advanced to third on Thomas Saggese’s two-out single.

Pedro Pages slipped a single to right field that scored Donovan for a 1-0 lead.

The single improved Donovan’s average during the streak to 24 for 51 (.471).

Two innings later, Donovan reached base again on a forceout. He took second on a wild pitch to get into scoring position for Jordan Walker’s RBI single. Donovan scored both of the Cardinals’ runs as they took a 2-0 lead in the fourth that did not survive the fifth.