It is nice to see the Mets win a game because the other team had mental lapses in the field, poor managerial decisions, and had a bullpen blow a late lead and finally the game.  Through the first 82 games, that seemed to be the Mets specialty.  Today, in what was mostly a lethargic afternoon game, the Mets got bested by the Cardinals in something they had seemingly mastered.

Through the first 4.2 innings, Seth Lugo had a no-hitter going.  Somewhere someone must’ve taken notice and said something because Greg Garcia hit a double for the Cardinals first hit of the game.  Still, things were in good shape for the Mets because Lugo erased Garcia, and the team had a 1-0 lead.

That lead came because Lucas Duda hit a second inning homer against Cardinals starter Lance Lynn:

https://twitter.com/TheRenderMLB/status/888078198524841984

The sizzling hot Duda has homered three times over his last five games.  Duda was also good in the field saving his infielders from a few errors.  Most notably, his scoop of a bad T.J. Rivera throw in the seventh saved a run.  Hopefully, one of the teams that needs a 1B/DH, and there are more of them than people will lead you to believe, have taken notice.

That 1-0 lead evaporated in the sixth.  After a one out walk to Matt Carpenter, Tommy Pham, who has been killing the Mets of late, doubled him home to tie the score.  Once again, Lugo settled in, shut the door in the sixth, and he pitched a scoreless seventh.

The Mets hurler deserved the win with his outstanding performance, but will have to settle for a no decision.  His final line was 6.2 innings, four hits, one run, one earned, one walk, and five strikeouts.  With him and Lynn out of the game, it became a battle of the bullpens, and a battle of wits between the managers.

With Erik Goeddel getting the last out of the seventh, Terry Collins turned to him to pitch the eighth.  It’s hard to fault Collins when everyone else in the bullpen is terrible, but the decision backfired when Pham hit a 3-1 pitch out of the park to give the Cardinals a 2-1 lead.  With the way this game was going, and with how poorly the Mets have played of late, it seemed like this was how the game was going to end.

That was until Mike Matheny thought it was a good idea to let the left-handed Brett Cecil pitch to Wilmer Flores in the eighth.  Everyone and their mother knows Flores crushes left-handed pitching.  Matheny either didn’t know that, or didn’t care.  That decision cost him as Cecil hung one to Flores:

https://twitter.com/TheRenderMLB/status/888108826888556544

From there, the Mets turned to the one reliever in their bullpen that they can have confidence – Addison Reed.  Reed did his job pitching a scoreless ninth thereby giving the Mets a chance for a walk-off victory.

The ninth inning rally started with Michael Conforto drawing a lead-off walk against Trevor Rosenthal.  It was another excellent game for Conforto that has gone unnoticed.  On the day, the Cardinals allowed eight baserunners (six hits and two walks).  Conforto accounted for four of those with him going 2-2 with two walks on the day.

Conforto would be erased on the basepaths on what initially appeared to be a double play ball off the bat of Yoenis Cespedes.  Credit should be given to Cespedes for busting it down the line and keeping a runner on base.  It paid off as he went first to third on a Rivera single.  He would then score on what should have been the last out of the inning:

https://twitter.com/TheRenderMLB/status/888108826888556544

That Jose Reyes “single” was the improbable winner that sent Mets fans home happy, and it enraged Cardinals first baseman Matt Carpenter:

I love Matt Carpenter. The look on his face, exasperation as he yelled "Trevor!" was priceless. Furious and rightly so. #STLCards #Mets

— Mike Vaccaro (@MikeVacc) July 20, 2017

It was nice to be on the other side of one of these games this year.  It was also nice to earn a split in the series.  Even if the Mets aren’t going anywhere, it is still always a joy to beat the Cardinals.  At the very least, it was a pleasure helping ensure they didn’t get the sweep they needed to get back into an NL Central race that is suddenly in flux.

Game Notes: Neil Ramirez was designated for assignment before the game to make room for Josh Smoker on the roster.