New York Mets starting pitcher Jonathon Niese throws during the first inning of a baseball game against the St. Louis Cardinals, Tuesday, Aug. 23, 2016, in St. Louis.
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This three-game series had the makings of being the Mets’ Waterloo, with Niese and Seth Lugo scheduled to start two of the games thanks to Steven Matz landing on the DL with a shoulder strain. After initially serving as a reliever for the Mets this season, Niese only recorded one out as a starter tonight – giving the Mets’ bullpen 8.2 innings to work – while allowing three St. Louis runs during his brief outing.
Jeurys Familia earned his 42nd save, one shy of the Mets’ season record set by Familia past year and Armando Benitez in 2001.
DeGrom is coming off a five-inning outing in which he allowed career highs with eight runs and 13 hits at San Francisco. The offense was led by Yadier Molina’s thee-hit day.
Niese left the game after facing four batters with left knee pain.
Yet Niese went to the mound with a 3-0 lead in the bottom of the first and proceeded to walk leadoff batter Tommy Pham and No. 3 hitter Matt Carpenter and then surrender an RBI single to Brandon Moss. The inning later ended when Cespedes made a fantastic leaping catch at the left-field wall on a fly ball off the bat of Stephen Piscotty. He is 2-1 with a 1.31 ERA in his career against NY. Gsellman and IF T.J. Rivera were recalled from Triple-A Las Vegas.
Though a 1-4 start to their 10-game road trip seemed to severely dim the Mets’ chances for a return to the playoffs, they have now won three straight, pulling within 3 1/2 games of the Cardinals for the National League’s final playoff spot with 37 games left to play.
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Cardinals: RHP Carlos Martinez (11-7, 3.24 ERA) allowed one run over seven innings in an 8-2 win over Houston on August 17.
