ST. LOUIS (AP) — Brandon Nimmo hit a leadoff home run, Jeff McNeil had a three-run shot and the New York Mets beat the St. Louis Cardinals 7-1 on Friday night for their third straight victory.
Joey Lucchesi (2-0) settled in after St. Louis loaded the bases against him in the first ininng and allowed four hits, walked two and struck out five in 5 2/3 scoreless innings in his first major league start since May 13 at Washington.
“I went to college an hour from here, so I guess I was just thinking about that a lot,” said Luchessi, a former Southeast Missouri State pitcher, “It’s been a while since I had my last start here. I just wanted to do well. After that, I was like, it’s just baseball, take it easy.”
Nimmo drove the third pitch he saw from Zack Thompson (2-5) into the center-field bleachers for his 18th home run. It was his fourth leadoff home run this season and the 11th of his career, and gave him a 10-game hitting streak.
“That was a new career high for him in home runs,” Mets manager Buck Showalter said. “He won’t say much about it, but that’s big for him. Nimmo’s always been a guy who can spray it around. When you start talking about leadoff hitters in the game, he’s got to be in the conversation.”
Thompson allowed two runs on six hits and walked a batter in five innings in his second major league start of the season for the Cardinals. They dropped their third straight.
“I got the pitch count up a little bit early,” Thompson said. “Then, I thought I did a good job of settling in, pitching to contact a little bit there later, giving a chance to save a little bit of the bullpen.”
Francisco Lindor hit a two-out single, advanced to second when Francisco Alvarez walked and scored on Jeff McNeil’s single up the middle to expand the Mets’ lead to 2-0 in the third inning.
McNeil hit his sixth home run of the season to right field off James Naile to cap a five-run seventh inning that saw the Mets pull ahead 7-0.
“Nobody hit for a higher average than him in the world last year at the highest level,” Showalter said. “It’s been some good days, and I’m glad to see him get a reminder of how good he is.”
Richie Palacios hit a two-out RBI double to left field in the bottom of the ninth inning to spoil the Mets’ bid for their sixth shutout of the season.
WINNING SEASON
Masyn Winn, a 2020 Cardinals second-round draft pick, went 1 for 4 and started at shortstop in his major league debut. He hit a dribbler down the third-base line in the fifth for his first hit.
ROSTER MOVES
Mets: Optioned RHP Grant Hartwig to Triple-A Syracuse and recalled Lucchesi.
Cardinals: Placed OF Lars Nootbaar (lower abdomen contusion) on the 10-day injured list and recalled Winn from Triple-A Memphis.
TRAINER’S ROOM
Cardinals: RHP Ryan Helsley (right forearm) strain allowed one hit and walked a batter in 1/3 of an inning in a rehabilitation appearance for Triple-A Memphis. Helsley underwent an MRI after experiencing discomfort after his previous outing Sunday for Double-A Springfield.
UP NEXT
Mets RHP Kodai Senga (9-6, 3.30 ERA) was set to start Saturday against RHP Miles Mikolas (6-8, 4.27 ERA).
