Griffin Canning struck out eight over six strong innings, and Mark Vientos broke out of a long home run drought as the New York Mets (12-7) defeated the St. Louis Cardinals (9-10), 4-1, on Thursday night at Citi Field to snap a two-game skid.
Canning, making his first start after being sidelined by illness, worked around early traffic and settled in quickly. After giving up a run in the third, he retired the final nine batters he faced, finishing with just three hits and two walks over 102 pitches.
All of New York’s offense came in a lively second inning. Vientos led off with his first home run of the season, a 339-foot shot that clipped the right-field foul pole. The Mets added three more runs in the frame, including RBI singles from Brett Baty and Francisco Lindor, and some aggressive baserunning by Tyrone Taylor that extended the lead to 4-0.
In relief, Reed Garrett, AJ Minter, and Edwin Díaz combined to shut the door. Díaz worked around a leadoff walk in the ninth to notch his fourth save of the year.
Game two of this four-game series is set for Friday at 7:10 p.m., with David Peterson on the mound for New York opposite Miles Mikolas.
Kyle leads sports coverage and hosts the Concrete Jungle podcast. Have a lead or question? Send it to [email protected].