The St. Louis Cardinals (9-10) dropped the opener of a four-game set with the New York Mets (12-7) on Thursday night at Citi Field, falling 4-1. The Mets capitalized on a strong outing from Griffin Canning and a four-run second inning to take control early.
Starting Pitchers
Andre Pallante (STL): 6 IP, 7 H, 4 ER, 2 K, 0 BB
Griffin Canning (NYM): 6 IP, 3 H, 1 ER, 8 K, 2 BB
Scoring Summary
2nd Inning
Mets Mark Vientos opened the scoring with a solo homer, barely sneaking it inside the right-field foul pole. Starling Marte followed with a double to left and scored on a Brett Baty single. Tyrone Taylor added another single, advancing Baty, and Francisco Lindor's RBI single made it 3-0. Lindor was caught in a rundown to end the inning, but Taylor scored on the play to make it 4-0.
3rd Inning
Cardinals Victor Scott II singled and stole second. After back-to-back strikeouts, he advanced to third on a wild pitch. Brendan Donovan extended his hitting streak with an infield single, scoring Scott for the Cardinals' only run of the game.
Nolan Arenado made a great bare-handed play from third base to get out of the inning for the Cardinals.
Nado doing Nado things! pic.twitter.com/Dhyo4JdA2C
— St. Louis Cardinals (@Cardinals) April 18, 2025
Pitching Notes
Pallante settled in after the second, retiring 12 of the next 13 before exiting after six.
Matt Svanson made his MLB debut for the Cardinals, pitching a clean seventh inning aside from a double allowed to Baty.
Edwin Díaz closed it out for New York with a scoreless ninth.
Game Notes & Stats
Donovan extended his career-best hitting streak to 13 games and remains tied with Aaron Judge for the MLB lead in hits (28).
Pallante induced 13 ground-ball outs despite giving up the most runs by a Cardinals starter in the last nine games.
The Cardinals offense struck out 11 times and didn’t record a hit after the fourth inning.
After scoring 66 runs in their first 10 games, the Cardinals have managed just 29 runs in the last nine.
Betting Recap
Mets ML (-140) cashed, while the total stayed UNDER 8 (-114) after early scoring ended in the third inning. The Cardinals’ bats stayed cold, offering little support for Pallante or Eric Sontag.
On Deck
Game two is set for Friday at 6:10 p.m. CT. Miles Mikolas (0-2) will take the mound for the Cardinals against left-hander David Peterson (1-1) of the Mets. The Cardinals are currently listed as +140 underdogs with the total score set at 8 (over -108, under -112).