Tuesday’s Game Report: Cardinals 7, Mets 0
By Rob Rains
When Dustin May took the mound in the bottom of the third inning on Tuesday night in New York, he easily could have wondered what had just happened.
His Cardinal teammates scored four runs in the top of the inning, a flurry of run support which May has not received for a long time.
Not since his last victory, on April 21, had the Cardinals scored more than three runs while May was in the game – a combined eight runs of support over a span of seven starts in which May was 0-4 with three no-decisions despite posting a 3.86 ERA.
May pitched the first six innings of the shutout win over the Mets, with the Cardinals adding to their lead while he was still in the game on a two-run homer by Alec Burleson in the fifth.
The win was the fifth in a row for the Cardinals, who improved to eight games above .500 at 36-28, one below their best mark this season. They were nine games over .500 on May 19, when they were 28-19.
Here is how Tuesday night’s game broke down:
At the plate: The Cardinals have scored at least five runs in each game during their five-game winning streak … JJ Wetherholt delivered a two-run single to start the third-inning outburst, driving in Nolan Gorman, who had walked, and Nathan Church, who doubled in his first at-bat since being activated off the injured list … After Ivan Herrera was hit by a pitch for the second time in the game, Jordan Walker doubled in a run and the final run of the inning scored on a groundout by Lars Nootbaar … Burleson’s homer was his ninth of the season. He later drove in the final run when he and Herrera delivered back-to-back doubles … Herrera has now been hit by a pitch 15 times this season, tied for the most in the majors. Herrera also had three hits, reaching base in all five plate appearances … Church also had three hits after missing 15 games with a strain of his left shoulder.
On the mound: May allowed just four hits over his six innings, walked one and struck out six. It was the first time in 13 starts this season he did not allow a run … Justin Bruihl allowed one hit over two innings and Matt Svanson worked a 1-2-3 ninth to complete the shutout.
Key stat: The win snapped the Cardinals’ five-game losing streak against the Mets in New York and also was their biggest shutout over the Mets since they also posted a 7-0 win on Sept. 13, 2021 at Citi Field.
Worth noting: President of Baseball Operations Chaim Bloom, in Springfield to watch the Double A Cardinals, said the decision to option Victor Scott II to Memphis will give him the playing time he needs to work on improving his offense. “He’s going to go down and use this time really well. We still view him as a big part of this,” Bloom said. “In the box is really going to be our main focus. We know he’s capable of more than he’s done; he’s started to show it a little bit the last few weeks. The at-bats got better. There are so many different ways for him to help us win. We still believe there is a higher ceiling there than what we’ve seen so we’re going to work with him to try to get it out of him. We’ve got to get him to a better place.” Scott was hitting just .194 after 155 at-bats … In Memphis’ game at Norfolk, Joshua Baez hit his 18th home run.
Up next: Andre Pallante will get the start on Wednesday night in the second game of the three-game series against the Mets.
Follow Rob Rains on X @RobRains