Normally, when your team walks away from a from bases loaded no outs in the first inning, and the Mets only walk away with one run, you begin to brace yourself for a long night. 

Except tonight, the Mets had Jacob deGrom on the mound, and deGrom has been in one of the best stretches of his career. Given the fact that he’s pitched into the seventh inning in each of his last four starts allowing one run or less in each of those starts, there was every chance deGrom could make that run stand. 

So while a Jay Bruce strikeout and a Lucas Duda GIDP bracketed a T.J. Rivera RBI HBP, the Mets got a lead for their ace. In the second, the Mets went up 2-0 on a Jose Reyes lead-off homer off Carlos Martinez, it looked like deGrom had all the room he needed. 

Then, the Cardinals bats came alive. 

Over a span of seven batters between the third and fourth innings, the Cardinals would hit four homers against deGrom. There were back-to-back homers by Randal Grichuk and Paul DeJong in the third, and back-to-back homers again in the fourth. This time it was by Dexter Fowler and Jedd Gyorko. 

Fortunately for deGrom, they were all solo shots. Fortunately for the Mets, Martinez struggled even worse. 

In the top of the fourth, Reyes led off with a double, and Travis d’Arnaud singled him home. Somewhat surprisingly, deGrom would swing away, and he’d hit into a fielder’s choice. The poor Cardinals defense would rue not turning the double play when Curtis Granderson doubled him home. 

After the Cardinals tied the game with the aforementioned fourth inning homers, Bruce would untie the game:

https://twitter.com/therendermlb/status/883506208082100226

In the seventh, Rivera plated another run with a double scoring Yoenis Cespedes, who began the inning reaching on a Matt Carpenter error. Basically, Cespedes drilled a grounder that sometimes second baseman just could not field. 

The hit must’ve been some relief for Rivera. He had been stinging the ball all night, but this double was the only hit he had to show for it. 

The Mets came out of that seventh inning with another run giving them a 6-4 lead, but it should have been more. 

After Cespedes reached on an error, Bruce had a terrible slide into second base. Instead of runners on second and third with no outs, there was a runner at third with one out. 

After the Rivera double, Reyes was hit by a pitch, but d’Arnaud couldn’t deliver the two out RBI. This didn’t give the Mets pitching much margin for error. 

For his part, deGrom was good with this two run lead. He’d pitch seven innings allowing just eight hits (four homers). He stuck out five while walking none. All in all, it was a good outing that gave the Mets a chance to win. 

Jerry Blevins was first out of the pen with the assignment to get Carpenter. As noted by Gary Cohen, the oft used Blevins had a noticeable dip in velocity, and Carpenter took advantage ripping a single through the shift. With a group of right-handed batters following, Terry Collins brought in Paul Sewald. 
Sewald allowed a single to the first batter he faced, Stephen Piscotty. After that, Sewald induced a double play ball off the bat of Fowler. However, the ball got stuck in Asdrubal Cabrera‘s glove. That hesitation prevented any chance of turning two with the speedy Fowler. In fact, Reyes didn’t even bother to throw to first. 

Gyorko would hit a long sacrifice fly to pull the Cardinals within 6-5. Yadier Molina then got a hold of one that seemed destined to give the Cardinals the lead. Instead, the ball fell harmlessly into Cespedes’ glove. 

This meant Addison Reed had no cushion as he sought to concert his 15th save. While the first two batters hit deep liners to center, Granderson was there to make the play. Reed then battled with DeJung, who was having a terrific night at the plate. Reed won the battle striking him out, and deGrom won his fifth consecutive start. 

With the win, the Mets are now tied with the Cardinals in the loss column as the two sub-.500 teams run out of time to get into the thick of the Wild Card race. 

Game Notes: Michael Conforto took BP before the game, and he’s likely going to be activated tomorrow.