DeGrom, Mets Win Game 2 6-2 Over Cards
The Mets won Game 2 of the season 6-2 over the St. Louis Cardinals to improve to 2-0. Jacob deGrom got the call today and left off right where he was in 2017. In 5 2/3 innings, deGrom struck out 7 while allowing only one run, four hits and a walk in picking up the win. With the win, deGrom is 1-0 with a 1.59 ERA and 0.88 WHIP.
The Mets bullpen featured the same cast from Thursday as Roger Gsellman, Anthony Swarzak and Jeurys Familia struck out a combined 5 batters while only allowing a run. For Gsellman and Swarzak, they picked up their first hold while Familia got his first save of the season.
The top batter of the day was Yoesnis Cespedes again. Cespedes went 1-2 with his first home run of the season while walking 3 times. Cespedes is batting .429 with 1 home run and 4 RBIs. Travis d'Aranud also hit a home run in this one while going 1-3 in his 2018 debut.
The Mets got things going in the bottom of the first after Asdrubal Cabrera lead off with a double to right field. After Cespedes walked, Jay Bruce grounded to Matt Carpenter who stepped on third to get Cabrera but could not throw out Bruce at first on the play. Todd Frazier then lined a doubled to left that scored both Cespedes and Bruce to give the Mets a 2-0 lead. Frazier went to third on the throw. However, d'Arnaud lined out and Adrian Gonzalez flied out to center to end the inning.
In the top or the 4th, Tommy Pham drew a leadoff walk. Matt Carpenter then bunted Pham over to second. Pham then went to third on Marcell Ozuna's fly out to right. Jose Martinez then singled to right to score Pham and cut the lead to 2-1.
In the bottom of the 4th, d'Arnaud lead off and parked a home run to left on a full count pitch to give the Mets a 3-1 lead. In the bottom of the 5th with one out, Cespedes hit a home run over the M&M's sign in left to extend the Mets lead to 4-1. In the top of the 6th, Pham lead off by hitting a soft grounder to third. Frazier made the play but threw the ball away from Gonzalez which allowed Pham to go to second. However, deGrom got Carpenter and Ozuna to strike out. Gsellman then relieved deGrom and struck out Martinez to end the threat.
In the top of the 7th, Yadir Molina lead off with a single past first baseman Gonzalez's glove. Paul DeJong then blooped a single to center. Gsellman did get Kolten Wong to ground out to first, but put runners on second and third with less than one out. Swarzak then came on in relief and struck out pinch hitter Greg Garcia looking. He then got Dexter Fowler to fly out to center to end the threat.
In the bottom of the 7th, Cabrera lead off by beating out a grounder to third for an infield single. Cespedes then drew a walk. Bruce then hit a comebacker to the pitcher which allowed Cespedes and Cabrera to go to second and third with one out. Sam Tuivailala then came out to pitch in relief and got Frazier to fly out to center. However, Cabrera was able to score on the sacrifice fly to give the Mets a 5-1 lead.
In the top of the 8th with one out, Carpenter hit a long home run into the Cardinals' bullpen in right to cut the lead to 5-2. In the bottom of the 8th, Juan Lagares grounded a single past shortstop Paul DeJong into center to lead off. Wilmer Flores then dropped a single into shallow center between the shortstop, the second baseman and the center fielder. With Amed Rosario up, Tuivailala then threw a wild pitch which allowed Lagares to go to third. After Rosario struck out swinging at pitch in the dirt, Tyler Lyons came on to relieve Tuivailala. He was greeted by Cabrera who hit a long fly ball to the right field track for a double which allowed Lagares to score to extend the Mets lead to 6-2. After Cespedes was intentionally walked to load the bases, Bruce popped out to short. Frazier then flied out to left to end the inning.
The Cards went down in the 9th, and the Mets picked up their second win of the season to go 2-0. With the win, the Mets are tied atop the NL East with the Washington Nationals after the Nats also won their first two games. The Atlanta Braves are a 1/2 game back while the Philadelphia Phillies and Miami Marlins are 1 1/2 games behind.
Just one bit of news. Swarzak did leave the game with a left oblique injury. Even though Swarzak is optimistic, the Mets will be cautious and might put him on the 10-day DL to heal. The Mets will also wear patches to honor Rusty Staub who passed away on Thursday.
The Mets will finish their opening series with the Cardinals Sunday as Steven Matz gets the call for the Amazins while Luke Weaver will oppose him. First pitch is at 1:10pm and can be seen on SNY while heard on 710am WOR. Fans going to the game tomorrow will receive a New York Mets tote bag.
