NEW YORK — Friday’s Game Report: Mets 6, Cardinals 1
The Cardinals hoped to get off to a quick start in Friday night’s opening game of an eight-game road trip, but the Mets had other ideas.
Six batters into the bottom of the first, they had a 3-0 lead against Miles Mikolas and were headed for the win in the series opener in New York.
The loss was the sixth in a row for the Cardinals and dropped them to 2-11 in June. They also are now 5-18 in the first game of a series this season and fell 16 games below .500 for the season at 27-43.
Here is how Friday night’s game broke down:
At the plate: The Cardinals had just one hit, a single by Paul DeJong, in the first four innings before Willson Contreras homered leading off the fifth but that turned out to be their only run of the game … Contreras also singled in the seventh, his first two-hit game since May 18, when he homered twice against the Dodgers … Jordan Walker had a double to extend his hitting streak to nine games … Dylan Carlson was hit by a pitch in two consecutive at-bats … They had only two at-bats with a runner on second base and none with a runner on third base.
On the mound: After allowing the three runs in the first, even though he got a 1-2-3 double play with the bases loaded, Mikolas also gave up two runs in the third, putting the Cardinals in a 5-0 hole. He retired nine batters in a row from the third until the sixth, when he gave up a two-out homer to Daniel Vogelbach … Genesis Cabrera and Drew VerHagen each worked a perfect inning of relief.
Key stat: The Cardinals have scored three runs or less in 15 of their last 20 games since May 24. Over that stretch they have won three games by a 2-1 score and one game 1-0.
Worth noting: Mikolas has now allowed a team-high 13 runs in the first inning in his 15 starts this season, an ERA of 7.80. He has allowed 27 hits in the first inning, including four on Friday night … The Cardinals obtained infielder-outfielder Richie Palacios from the Cleveland Guardians on Friday for cash considerations. He was optioned to Memphis. To open a spot on the 40-man roster Tyler O’Neill was transferred to the 60-day injured list.
Looking ahead: Adam Wainwright will get the start on Saturday in the second game of the series. First pitch is scheduled for 3:10 p.m. St. Louis time.
