Mark Vientos hit a walk-off homer in the 11th inning for the host New York Mets, who came back to beat the St. Louis Cardinals 4-2 on Sunday afternoon.
The Mets were down to their final strike before Harrison Bader laced the game-tying single off Matthew Liberatore (0-1) to score automatic runner DJ Stewart. Vientos, who was recalled from Triple-A Syracuse on Saturday, hit a 1-2 pitch over the center-field fence just beyond the reach of a leaping Michael Siani.
The Mets were hitless in their first 15 at-bats with runners in scoring position prior to the hits by Bader and Vientos.
Francisco Lindor led off the sixth with a homer for the Mets, who avoided being swept in the three-game series as they won for just the second time in seven contests. Vientos and Bader had two hits apiece.
New York reliever Reed Garrett (5-0) allowed an unearned run in two innings.
The Cardinals, whose three-game winning streak was snapped, ran themselves out of a potential multi-run inning in the top of the 11th against Garrett. Brendan Donovan led off with an RBI single but was thrown out in a rundown as Siani, the automatic runner, scored from second. Willson Contreras then walked but was doubled up on Nolan Arenado’s pop-up to Lindor in shallow left-center.
Siani had an RBI safety squeeze in the fifth for the Cardinals, who were hitless in their first 11 at-bats with runners in scoring position prior to Donovan’s single.
Mets starter Jose Quintana allowed one run on three hits and one walk while striking out three over eight innings. He threw 26 pitches in the first inning but just 73 over his final seven frames.
Quintana retired nine straight before Masyn Winn led off the fifth with a double. Winn went to third on a groundout by Nolan Gorman and scored on Siani’s safety squeeze.
The left-hander then retired the final 11 batters he faced. Quintana is the first Mets starter this season to pitch into the seventh and the first to complete eight innings since Justin Verlander did so last July 19.
Lance Lynn gave up one run on five hits and three walks while striking out three over five-plus innings for the Cardinals.
–Field Level Media
