Nolan Arenado played a crucial role in the St. Louis Cardinals’ 8-7 victory over the New York Mets, hitting two home runs, including the tiebreaking shot in the ninth inning. The win secured a rare series victory for the Cardinals.
Arenado got things started for the Cardinals with a two-run homer in the first inning. After blowing an early 5-1 lead, Arenado came through with a clutch home run off Adam Ottavino (his former teammate from the Colorado Rockies) in the ninth inning. This marked Arenado’s 23rd career multi-homer game and coincided with his first Father’s Day since becoming a father to daughter Levi last August. In 2017, Arenado also hit for the cycle on Father’s Day while playing for the Rockies.
In addition to Arenado’s heroics, Paul DeJong and Jordan Walker also hit home runs for the Cardinals. Paul Goldschmidt contributed with a two-run double, and Brendan Donovan had a three-hit game with an RBI single. The Cardinals had previously struggled in series play, going 0-5-1 in their last six series, so the victory was a much-needed boost.
Pitcher Drew VerHagen, the Cardinals’ fourth pitcher of the game, retired all five batters he faced. Jordan Hicks closed out the game and earned his second save in as many days, inducing a game-ending double play from Starling Marte.
For the Mets, Francisco Lindor, whose wife had given birth to their second daughter the previous day, hit a home run in the first inning to ignite the team’s comebacks. Tommy Pham’s two-run homer in the fifth tied the game at 7-7. However, the Mets fell short in the end, unable to push across the go-ahead run.
Pete Alonso returned to the Mets’ lineup after being on the injured list with a left wrist bone bruise and sprain but went 0-for-4 with three strikeouts.
The Cardinals’ next game will be against the Washington Nationals, with Jack Flaherty taking the mound, while the Mets will face the Houston Astros, with Max Scherzer starting for New York.