Arenado homers twice, Cardinals beat Mets 8-7 to take series

St. Louis Cardinals' Nolan Arenado reacts after hitting a solo home run during the ninth inning of a baseball gam against the New York Mets at Citi Field, Sunday, June 18, 2023, in New York. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)

NEW YORK (AP) — Nolan Arenado hit two homers Sunday, including a tiebreaking shot in the ninth inning that lifted the St. Louis Cardinals to an 8-7 win over the New York Mets and a rare series win.

Arenado hit a two-run homer in the first inning for the Cardinals, who blew an early 5-1 lead before the third baseman homered off Adam Ottavino (0-3) with one out in the ninth.

Paul DeJong and Jordan Walker also homered while Paul Goldschmidt had a two-run double and Brendan Donovan added an RBI single among his three hits for St. Louis, which was 0-5-1 in its previous six series.

Drew VerHagen (4-0), the Cardinals’ fourth pitcher, retired all five batters he faced. Jordan Hicks earned his second save in as many days in the ninth, when he got Starling Marte to hit into a game-ending double play.

Francisco Lindor, whose wife gave birth to the couple’s second daughter Saturday morning, homered in the bottom of the first inning to begin the series of comebacks by the Mets, who trailed 5-1, 6-4 and 7-5 before Tommy Pham tied it with a two-run shot in the fifth.

Eduardo Escobar hit a run-scoring triple and Brandon Nimmo had a two-run double in the second inning and Mark Canha added an RBI single in the fourth for the Mets.

The homers by DeJong and Pham continued their success against their respective opponents. DeJong, who has homered in six of the 15 games he’s played at Citi Field, entered Sunday with a .684 slugging percentage against the Mets, the highest of any player with at least 120 plate appearances.

Pham, who played 362 games for the Cardinals after being drafted by the team in 2006, is hitting .254 with four homers and 14 RBIs against his former club.

Cardinals starter Matthew Liberatore allowed five runs and struck out two in four innings. For the Mets, Carlos Carrasco allowed six runs (five earned) with four strikeouts in three innings.

ALONSO BACK

Mets first baseman Pete Alonso, the National League leader in home runs, returned to the lineup on Sunday and went 0-for-4 with three strikeouts after spending the minimum 10 days on the injured list with a left wrist bone bruise and sprain.

Alonso was expected to miss three to four weeks after he was hit by a 97 mph fastball thrown by the Atlanta Braves’ Charlie Morton in the first inning on June 7. But Alonso, whose 22 homers are one fewer than major league leader Shohei Ohtani, said he thought last week he’d beat the timeline by a considerable margin.

“Happy that it responded well to treatment,” Alonso said Sunday before the game. “I feel excellent and I’m at 100 percent everything. If I’m at 100 percent, why wait?”

THREE TIMES NINE

Cardinals centerfielder Tommy Edman became the first player in team history to draw three walks and steal a base while batting ninth. Six other players drew three walks while batting ninth, most recently César Izturis on May 18, 2008.

TRAINER’S ROOM

Cardinals: OF Lars Nootbaar (lower back) was expected to play in the outfield Sunday in his second rehab game for Triple-A Memphis and could join the Cardinals for their series in Washington that begins Monday night. Nootbaar went 0-for-4 as the designated hitter Saturday night. … OF Dylan Carlson, who had a pinch-hit RBI single Saturday after being hit on the elbow by a pitch Friday, returned to the starting lineup and went 0-for-5.

Mets: To make room for Alonso, the Mets optioned IF/OF Mark Vientos to Triple-A Syracuse. … CF Brandon Nimmo was visited by a trainer but remained in the game after fouling consecutive pitches off his lower leg in the sixth inning.

UP NEXT

Cardinals: A six-game road trip continues as RHP Jack Flaherty (3-5, 4.64 ERA) starts the opener of a three-game series against the Washington Nationals. Flaherty has a 3.20 ERA in his past seven starts, though he gave up six runs in 4 1/3 innings against the San Francisco Giants on Tuesday.

Mets: RHP Max Scherzer (5-2, 4.45 ERA) takes the ball as New York begins a six-game road trip with the opener of a three-game set against the Houston Astros. Scherzer has given up 11 runs over nine innings in his past two starts.

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