Wednesday’s Game Report: Cardinals 2, Mets 1 (11 innings)
By Rob Rains
It was the kind of hit which will look better in the box score than it did in person, and Masyn Winn is just fine with that.
It counted the same as any other hit, and it gave the Cardinals a walk-off win over the Mets on Wednesday at Busch Stadium.
With two outs and a runner on third in the 11th inning, Winn blooped a hit into short right field that neither the Mets’ second baseman, first baseman or right fielder could reach as it softly hit the ground.
The way his luck has gone this season, Winn wasn’t sure the ball would drop as he was watching it, running toward first base.
“When I hit it I didn’t think it was going to fall,” Winn said. “It wasn’t the best swing. When I saw it drop I was just super excited.”
It produced Winn’s first RBI of the season and only his fourth hit in 25 at-bats through six games.
“I think a swinging bunt was my first hit last year, I think that’s what got me going,” Winn said. “I feel like I’ve always been a slow starter so I’m not really stressing too much. At some point it’s going to click and I’m going to get going.”
Manager Oli Marmol believes that too.
“Sometimes those are the ones that get you going,” Marmol said. “He needed it, we needed it.”
Here is how Wednesday’s game broke down:
At the plate: The Cardinals had only two hits through the first five innings of the scoreless game. In the sixth, JJ Wetherholt led off with a single, went to second when Ivan Herrera walked and scored on a two-out single by Nolan Gorman to tie the game at 1 after Winn popped out … Winn led off the ninth with a walk and stole second but was stranded there and the Cardinals also left a runner on third in the 10th … Wetherholt was the automatic runner to start the 11th and after Herrera was intentionally walked, Alec Burleson grounded into a double play that set up the game-winning hit from Winn, his first career walk-off RBI.
On the mound: Matthew Liberatore retired the first 14 hitters he faced before Mark Vientos doubled, just inside the third base line, with two outs in the fifth … Juan Soto broke the scoreless tie with a home run with two outs in the sixth, the ball landing just inside the right-field foul pole … Both runs allowed by Liberatore in his first two starts have come on home runs by lefthanded batters … Gordon Graceffo had to get out of a bases loaded jam with one out in the 11th, getting a force out at the plate on a ground ball and then a fly out to right that ended the inning.
Key stat: Cardinals pitchers held the Mets hitless in 11 at-bats with a runner in scoring position and a combined one hit in 29 at-bats with a runner on second or third in the three-game series.
Worth noting: Soto’s homer was only the second of his career in St. Louis and the first since he homered in his first game at Busch Stadium, when he was 19, on Aug. 13, 2018, when he was playing for the Nationals. It came off Miles Mikolas … At Memphis on Wednesday, Jimmy Crooks was 4-of-4 with his third home run in five games to start the season as the Redbirds improved to 5-0 … Yohel Pozo is the only Cardinal who did not play in the first six games of the season. Jose Fermin got in one game but did not have an at-bat.
Up next: After a day off on Thursday, the Cardinals will begin their first road trip of the season on Friday with the first of three games in Detroit. Michael McGreevy is the scheduled starter. Former Cardinal Jack Flaherty is scheduled to pitch on Saturday for the Tigers.
Follow Rob Rains on X @RobRains
