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Cardinals Hold Off Mets

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), his former teammate with the Colorado Rockies, with one out in the ninth.

 

Arenado had his 23rd career multi-homer game on his first Father’s Day since his first child, daughter Levi, was born last August. He also had a cycle on Father’s Day for the Rockies in 2017.

 

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-RBI double in the second inning and Mark Canha added an RBI single in the fourth inning for the Mets, who are 3-11 since sweeping the Philadelphia Phillies in a three-game series from May 30 through June 1.

 

Mets first baseman Pete Alonso went 0 for 4 with three strikeouts in his return from the injured list with a left wrist bone bruise and sprain.

 

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, has a .695 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.

 

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.

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