Mets Blanked By Cardinals Behind Adam Wainwright

By Kenneth Teape (@teapester725)

Tuesday, April 22^nd, 2014

St. Louis Cardinals vs. New York Mets

Post Game Recap

William Perlman-The Star-Ledger

The New York Mets had the script flipped on them from Monday night’s game, when they shut the St. Louis Cardinals out 2-0 behind a strong performance from Jenrry Mejia. Tonight, the shut out was in the Cardinals favor, as they shut the Mets offense down behind a dominant performance from their ace Adam Wainwright.

Wainwright was dominant against the Mets, tossing seven shutout innings on only 79 pitches. He was forced from the game after he finished the seventh inning because of a hyper-extended right knee, but he had done more than enough to get his team the victory. Only four Mets reached base against Wainwright, and only one player even reached second base. The Mets had only two players get to second base all night.

This was the second straight lights-out performance for Wainwright, as he tossed a two-hit shutout against the Mets division rival Washington Nationals his last time out.

Wainwright did receive some help from his defense in preserving the shutout, as Matt Holliday robbed Chris Young of a two-run home run in the fifth inning. It not only preserved the shutout, but kept the Cardinals ahead as the two-run shot would have tied the game up.

Holliday also hurt the Mets at the plate, finishing the game 3-4. He delivered an RBI in the ninth inning to extend the Cardinal lead to three, and also scored in the fourth winning off a John Jay single.

Holiday was one of three Cardinal players to have multiple hits, as Matt Adams and Jay each had two hits apiece; the Mets as a team only managed four.

William Perlman-The Star-Ledger

The weak offensive output wasted yet another strong start from Dillon Gee. The nominal ace of the Mets’ staff threw six innings tonight, allowing the two runs in the fourth inning as the only blemish on the night. He surrendered six hits and two walks over his six innings, striking out four in the process.

The Mets offense was anemic Tuesday night, as no one was able to get anything going against Wainwright. Trevor Rosenthal walked two in the ninth inning, but the Mets were unable to make anything out of it. David Wright saw his 12-game hit streak come to an end, going 0-4 with two strikeouts, the last of which came in the ninth inning with two on.

Curtis Granderson also extended his dubious streak to 22 at-bats without a hit, the longest of his career. His previous long had been 21 at-bats in 2006 with the Detroit Tigers.

Next up for the Mets and Cardinals is the third game in their series Wednesday night, as John Niese (0-2, 2.84 ERA) will go against Michael Wacha (2-1, 1.73 ERA).