Recap: NY Mets vs. St. Louis
Sports Network | July 28, 2010
Flushing, NY (Sports Network) - Jeff Francoeur and Jose Reyes each homered as the New York Mets made a successful return to Citi Field by roughing up Adam Wainwright and the Cardinals, 8-2, in the opener of a three-game series.
The Mets shook off their debilitating 2-9 road trip by scoring as many runs as they had in their previous four games combined. The total was the most the club scored since a 9-5 win over Washington on July 4.
Carlos Beltran aided the rare offensive outburst with two hits, a run scored and another driven in, while Jon Niese (7-4) gave up just one run on seven hits and two walks over six-plus innings to get the win.
Wainwright (14-6) came in sporting a 25-inning scoreless streak but was knocked around for a season-high six runs on six hits and three walks in five innings, his second shortest stint of the year.
"Tonight was fun against a guy like Wainwright," Francoeur said. "Facing him is not exactly the best way to get started after our road trip, but for us it was nice."
St. Louis has dropped four of five following an eight-game winning streak.
New York jumped out to a 4-1 lead in the fourth on Francoeur's towering blast to left-center, his ninth round-tripper of the year. Beltran walked and Ike Davis singled before the homer.
"I was trying to walk [Francoeur], pitch around him, and that's probably why I made such a bad pitch," recalled Wainwright.
The hosts tacked on two more in the fifth via David Wright's sacrifice fly and Beltran's run-scoring base hit to left.
Aaron Miles flied out to leave the bases loaded in the top of the sixth, and Reyes' drive off Fernando Salas in the bottom half reached the second deck down the right-field line to make it 8-1.
Manny Acosta relieved Niese after the starter put the first two hitters on in the seventh and quickly got out of the inning unscathed.
Raul Valdes came in for Acosta after three consecutive singles loaded the bases in eighth and limited the damage to Randy Winn's pinch-hit double play grounder that scored Ryan Ludwick.
Francisco Rodriguez hurled a 1-2-3 ninth to seal the convincing win.
Ludwick's infield single in the first inning scored Jon Jay, and New York tied it in the second on Davis' RBI groundout, which ended Wainwright's streak at 26 innings.
The Mets had lost their seven previous series openers...The Cardinals came into the game with a major league-leading 39-9 record when scoring first...Mets manager Jerry Manuel was not on the bench, as he was serving a one-game suspension for his actions during last Friday's game against the Dodgers...Mets outfielder Jason Bay was not in the lineup and is being listed as day-to-day, as he is experiencing concussion-like symptoms after crashing into the outfield wall while making a catch against the Dodgers last Friday...Wainwright, whose six losses this season have all come on the road, had won his previous four decisions...St. Louis outhit New York, 10-9, but went 2-for-12 with runners in scoring position, stranding 10.
