The Mets’ offense didn’t accomplish much on Friday night, falling 4-2 to the Cardinals at Citi Field.
Here are the key takeaways…
–José Butto made his fourth start of the season on Friday night, but didn’t have his best performance. The right-hander had difficulties, especially in the second round, when he hit Nolan Arenado and walked Paulo Goldschmidtwho set up a Cardinals DH three-run home run Alex Burlesonwho threw a changeup across the inside of the plate to right-center field to give St. Louis an early 3-0 lead.
In the next inning, Butto left a first-pitch sinker in the middle of the plate for Willson Contreras for a leadoff home run, extending the Cardinals’ lead to 4-0.
But Butto calmed down after that stretch, retiring 11 consecutive Cardinals batters before allowing a single to Goldschmidt with two outs in the sixth. He walked Burleson and was unable to finish the inning, leaving the game with a final line of 5.2 innings pitched, allowing four earned runs on four hits, three walks, one batter and four strikeouts.
–JD Martinez had an impressive Mets debut, going 2-for-4 with an RBI single and double. The DH nearly hit a home run instead of a double, hitting a fastball the opposite way to right field and coming off the top of the wall to go in. Francisco Lindor. Martinez struck out in each of his other at-bats, including the leadoff ninth inning.
–Tomas Nidoin just his third start of the season, he had quite a day at the base replacing the injured Francisco Álvarez. He finished 2-for-3 with a double and solo home run, which put the Mets up 4-1 at the time.
-The Mets bullpen continues to be a positive for the team, even in defeat. Josh Walker, Jorge López It is Sean Reid-Foley combined to throw 3.1 scoreless innings, allowing just one hit and one walk – both by Walker – between the three, while striking out six. Lopez had three of those six strikeouts in 1.2 innings of work.
Who was the MVP?
Miles Mikolas. The Cardinals starting pitcher may not have been overpowering — he allowed seven hits in 5.2 innings — but he still held the Mets to just two runs and struck out five, without ever finding himself in serious trouble during the game.
Highlights
What is the next
The Mets continue their three-game series against the St. Louis Cardinals on Saturday at 4pm on FOX.
Adriano Houser will start for the Mets while the Cardinals will send Sonny Gray to the mountain.
