One day after getting shut out, the New York Mets (24-18) returned the favor to the St. Louis Cardinals (24-17) Thursday by shutting them out 5-0. The Mets got two home runs and four runs batted in from first baseman Lucas Duda to power them to victory at Citi Field. Jacob deGrom pitched eight innings of one-hit ball in securing the win.
In the bottom of the sixth, Duda took Cardinals starter Jaime Garcia over the right-center field wall for his first home run (4), a solo shot that gave the Mets a 2-0 lead. Duda follwed that in his next at bat with an eight-inning three-run blast (5) off left-hander Randy Chote to extend the lead to 5-0, which ended up the final score.
Duda is now hitting .409 (18 for 44) with four home runs against left-handed pitchers this season.
In all, Duda was 2 for 3 with 2 HR, 4 RBI, 3 R, 1 BB, and 1 K, raising his average to .302 on the season. The Mets had nine hits on the day with three of them coming off the bat of Michael Cuddyer and two from Daniel Murphy.
The Mets scored their first run in the fourth when Jon Mayberry, Jr. singled home Duda, who had walked earlier in the inning.
Meanwhile, St. Louis, who came in with the Majors' best record, had only two hits. Koten Wong and Matt Carpenter were each 1 for 4, and only Carpenter's came off deGrom. Wong got his hit off Jeurys Familia in the ninth.
deGrom (W: 5-4, 2.75 ERA) allowed only one hit in eight innings while walking no one and striking out 11 and keeping Cardinals hitters off balance for the entire afternoon.
Garcia (L: 0-1, 2.57) pitched very well in taking the loss. He allowed two earned runs on five hits in seven innings while walking five and striking out three. He also served up Duda's first home run.
On Friday, St. Louis will begin an I-70 series with the Kansas City Royals while New York travels to face the Pittsburgh Pirates for three games over the weekend.