NEW YORK — Nolan Arenado got a big offensive day started for the Cardinals with a two-run homer in the first inning of Sunday’s game against the Mets.
He had to wait eight innings to hit a bigger home run, this time breaking a 7-7 tie with his second of the game, in the ninth inning, that carried the Cardinals to the win in New York.
The homer gave the Cardinals their first series win since May 21 and marked only the second time since then that they have won two games in a row. It was the first time they won consecutive games on the road since sweeping the Red Sox on May 12-14 in Boston.
Paul DeJong and Jordan Walker also homered for the Cardinals as the bullpen secured the victory by shutting out the Mets over the final four innings.
Here is how Sunday’s game broke down:
At the plate: The Cardinals jumped out to an early lead with two runs in the first, three in the second and one in the third before the Mets came back to tie the game … Paul Goldschmidt drove in two of the runs in the second with a double while Brendan Donovan had three hits, scored twice and drove in a run … Tommy Edman walked three times and scored once … The Cardinals did not have a hit between Walker’s homer in the fifth, his second in two days and sixth of the season, and Arenado’s homer in the ninth … The two homers moved Arenado into a tie with Nolan Gorman for the team lead with 15 … Walker’s homer extended his hitting streak to 11 games.
On the mound: Matthew Liberatore was staked to the early lead but gave up five runs before coming out of the game after the fourth inning … Chris Stratton allowed a two-run homer to former Cardinal Tommy Pham in the fifth that tied the game … Andre Pallante was able to strand a runner on third in the sixth before Drew VerHagen retired all five hitters he faced and Jordan Hicks earned his second save in as many days. He allowed a one-out single in the ninth before getting a game-ending double play.
Key stat: The back-to-back wins in New York gave the Cardinals their series win since May 18-21 when they won three of four against the Dodgers. They had lost five series and split two since then.
Worth noting: This was the second time in his Cardinals’ career that Arenado homered in both the first and ninth inning of a game, also doing it on July 2 last year at Philadelphia … Playing his second rehab game at Memphis on Sunday, Lars Nootbaar hit two homers and doubled in a four-hit, four RBI game. He could rejoin the Cardinals at some point during their series in Washington.
Looking ahead: The Cardinals road trip continues on Monday with the first of three games against the Nationals. Jack Flaherty is the scheduled starter for the 3:05 p.m. game St. Louis time.
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