Nimmo, Lucchesi Shine As Mets Defeat Cardinals 7-1
The Mets took on the Cardinals in the second game of a four-game series on Friday night. After getting the best of the Cardinals on Thursday, the Mets came out on top again by defeating the Cardinals 7-1.
Jun 18, 2021; Washington, District of Columbia, USA; New York Mets starting pitcher Joey Lucchesi (47) throws to the Washington Nationals during the first inning at Nationals Park. Mandatory Credit: Brad Mills-USA TODAY Sports
The key to the Mets’ victory was a strong pitching performance by Joey Lucchesi, who made his first big league start since May 13. After loading the bases in the first inning, he managed to escape the inning scoreless and pitched effectively over the rest of his outing.
After a strenuous first inning, Lucchesi retired 12 in a row, generating lots of easy ground balls over that stretch. His streak of retired batters was broken on the first hit in Masyn Winn‘s MLB career.
Lucchesi exited the game with runners on second and third with two outs in the sixth inning. Phil Bickford relieved him and walked Jordan Walker to load the bases before striking out Alec Burleson to keep the Cardinals off the board. That ensured Lucchesi would end his night with a scoreless performance, which dropped his season ERA almost a full run from 4.43 to 3.54.
Offensively, the Mets put themselves ahead right away before putting the game away late. Brandon Nimmo led off the game by taking the lefty Zack Thompson deep, socking his career-high 18th home run of the year to give the Mets and Lucchesi an early lead to play with. Jeff McNeil added to the lead in the third inning by knocking an RBI single up the middle, scoring Lindor from second base to extend the lead to 2-0.
Joey Lucchesi drops the churve on Jordan Walker and gets out of bases-loaded trouble pic.twitter.com/XrPT4brwQL
— SNY (@SNYtv) August 19, 2023
Both offenses remained quiet until the seventh inning when the Mets blew the game open. Still up by just two, the Mets loaded the bases with nobody out. A fielder’s choice off the bat of Francisco Lindor, with a questionable throw home by the young shortstop Winn, brought home a run before Francisco Álvarez hit an opposite-field RBI single to make it a 4-0 game.
Jeff McNeil then unloaded a three-run shot over the right field fence, his sixth home run of the year, to extend the lead to 7-0. That home run was McNeil’s third over his last 14 games after he had just three home runs all season before that. He has been swinging the bat much better of late, having entered this game batting .288 in the month of August.
Sam Coonrod and Dennis Santana combined to pitch the final three innings after Bickford managed to escape the sixth inning without allowing a run. Coonrod set down the Cardinals in order in the seventh inning before Santana gave up the shutout with two outs in the ninth inning on a Richie Palacios double. Still, Santana stayed on to record the final out and give the Mets a 7-1 win.
The Mets have now won five out of their six last games, improving their record to 57-66. They have now clinched at least a series tie with the Cardinals with two games still to play before heading to Atlanta to take on the Braves for the final time this season.
Player of the Game
Brandon Nimmo gets player of the game honors in this game. Not only did he set a new career-high for home runs in a season with 18, but he also finished the game 3-for-5 while extending his hitting streak to ten games as he continues to look scorching hot at the plate.
On Deck
The Mets will look to secure a series win against the Cardinals on Saturday evening, with the first pitch scheduled for 7:15 p.m. ET. Kodai Senga (9-6, 3.30 ERA) will look to continue his stellar rookie campaign as he takes the mound for the Mets, while Miles Mikolas (6-8, 4.27 ERA) gets the start for the Cardinals. The game will be broadcast on PIX11.
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