The St. Louis Cardinals (9-11) were defeated by the New York Mets (13-7) in a 5-4 heartbreaker Friday night at Citi Field. The loss marked the second straight to open the four-game series and continued St. Louis' road challenges, as the club has gone just 1-7 away from home this season.
Starting Pitchers
Miles Mikolas (STL): 4.2 IP, 5 H, 2 ER, 1 K, 2 BB
David Peterson (NYM): 5.1 IP, 7 H, 3 ER, 0 BB
Scoring Summary
2nd Inning
Brendan Donovan extended his league-best hitting streak to 14 games with a single to center. Thomas Saggese followed with a single of his own, moving Donovan to third. Pedro Pagés then drove him in with an RBI single to give the Cardinals a 1-0 lead.
Three singles in the 2nd and we're on the board first! pic.twitter.com/1hRfundBou
— St. Louis Cardinals (@Cardinals) April 18, 2025
Pete Alonso tripled over Michael Siani’s head in the bottom half but was left stranded.
4th Inning
Nolan Arenado reached on an infield single and was replaced by Donovan on a fielder’s choice. After a wild pitch moved Donovan up, Jordan Walker drove him in with a single to right, making it 2-0 Cardinals.
5th Inning
Brett Baty opened the inning with a double to right. Tyrone Taylor followed with a triple past Siani to score Baty, and Juan Soto singled in Taylor to tie the game at 2-2. John King entered and retired the final batter.
6th Inning
Willson Contreras led off with a double over Nimmo. Arenado followed with an RBI single to left, scoring Contreras to give the Cardinals a 3-2 lead.
Nado for a #STLCards lead! pic.twitter.com/QRENm5IF8F
— Sports Hub STL (@SportsHubSTL) April 19, 2025
Kyle Leahy took over on the mound for St. Louis. Mark Vientos then launched his second homer in two days, a solo shot to left, tying it 3-3.
7th Inning
Leahy, JoJo Romero, and Phil Maton all saw action in the inning, working through the Mets’ order.
8th Inning
Vientos singled to left, and Luisangel Acuña came in as a pinch runner, later stealing second. Brandon Nimmo grounded into a fielder’s choice, erasing Acuña at third, but advanced to second on a failed Maton pickoff. Luis Torrens followed with a double to left, scoring Nimmo to give the Mets a 4-3 edge.
9th Inning
Donovan opened the inning with a solo homer to right that scraped the netting of the foul pole, tying the game 4-4.
Brendan Donovan goes off the foul pole to tie it! 💥 pic.twitter.com/fNM7K29CKt
— St. Louis Cardinals (@Cardinals) April 19, 2025
Ryan Fernandez entered to close for the Cardinals. Francisco Lindor led off the bottom half with a walk-off, no-doubt home run to right field over Jordan Walker, handing the Mets the 5-4 win.
Game Notes & Stats
Donovan’s 14-game hitting streak is the longest active streak in MLB. He leads the league with 30 hits.
The Cardinals have now allowed five walk-off home runs since 2022 with three of them being to the Mets.
The Birds struck out a season-high 15 times. In the last two games, 26 of their 56 outs have come via strikeout.
St. Louis is 0-4 in one-run games this season.
Betting Recap
Mets ML (-166) cashed, while the total score went just OVER 8 (-108). Eric Sontag’s fade of the Cardinals ended in a push thanks to Lindor’s walk-off blast.
On Deck
The Cardinals aim to bounce back in Game 3 of the series on Saturday at 3:05 p.m. CT. Left-hander Matthew Liberatore (1-1) will get the start for St. Louis, squaring off against Mets right-hander Kodai Senga (2-1).The Cardinals are listed as +145 underdogs with the total score set at 8.5 (over -118, under -102).