Thursday’s Game Report: Mets 5, Cardinals 4
By Rob Rains
The Cardinals’ pitchers could only keep Juan Soto quiet for so long.
After holding Soto to just one single in his first 10 plate appearances in the series in New York, Soto came up with big hits in his final two at-bats on Thursday that sent the Mets to a win that salvaged the final game of the series.
Soto doubled and scored the tying run in the fifth inning, then broke the tie with a homer in the seventh off JoJo Romero to snap the Cardinals’ six-game winning streak.
It was only the fourth home run Soto has hit in 44 career games against the Cardinals.
The loss kept the Cardinals from improving to a season-high 10 games above .500, a mark they haven’t reached since the end of the 2022 season.
Here is how Thursday’s game broke down:
At the plate: Three of the Cardinals’ first seven batters – Alec Burleson, Lars Nootbaar and Jimmy Crooks – homered before the Cardinals made an out in the second inning. They had only two hits after the second inning, however, a two-out double by Nootbaar in the third and a two-out single by Jordan Walker in the fifth … The Mets retired 13 of the final 14 Cardinals batters, with their only baserunner coming on a two-out walk to Ivan Herrera in the seventh.
On the mound: Hunter Dobbins, making his second start of the season as the Cardinals move to a six-man rotation, allowed two homers to the first four hitters he faced in the first inning, but then kept the Mets scoreless until coming out of the game with one out in the fifth … Soto greeted Justin Bruihl with his double, then scored on a single by Jared Young … Bruihl, George Soriano and Romero retired the next seven batters before Soto homered with two outs in the seventh.
Key stat: With his 11th homer of the season, Burleson extended his hitting streak to 11 games and became the first Cardinal to ever homer in each game of a three-game series against the Mets in New York.
Worth noting: Nolan Gorman was hitless in three at-bats, striking out twice. In his last 17 games since May 20, Gorman has only three hits in 50 at-bats and has struck out 27 times … In his first game since joining Memphis, Victor Scott II had a double and triple, drove in two runs, scored once and reached on a walk. Quinn Mathews worked six scoreless innings for the Redbirds, allowing only three hits while walking one and striking out six. Mathews has allowed only one earned run in his last 16 innings, covering three starts, with 23 strikeouts.
Up next: The road trip will continue with the first of three games against the Twins in Minnesota. Kyle Leahy will get the start on Friday night.
Follow Rob Rains on X @RobRains
