Cardinals go up early, hold off Mets

Paul Goldschmidt hit a two-run double in a four-run first inning as the St. Louis Cardinals raced out to a six-run lead and recorded a 7-4 victory over the host New York Mets on Saturday.

Nolan Arenado hit an RBI single in the opening frame against New York starter Adrian Houser (0-3) and reached base for a 25th straight game. Arenado also avoided a potentially scary injury in the seventh when he fouled a ball off his face in the area above his nose and near his forehead.

Masyn Winn and Nolan Gorman added RBI base hits as the Cardinals won their season-high third straight game and for the fourth time in five games.

Goldschmidt also hit an infield single, stole second and scored on a balk by New York reliever Josh Walker in the fifth during Gorman's at-bat to give St. Louis a 6-0 lead.

Brendan Donovan hit two doubles and also contributed a sacrifice fly that scored Gorman in the eighth

St. Louis starter Sonny Gray (3-1) benefitted from the early run support and allowed four runs (one earned) on four hits in six innings. Gray allowed a home run for the first time this season but also registered nine strikeouts after fanning 12 on Sunday against the Milwaukee Brewers.

Gray took a shutout into the fifth before Arenado misplayed Tyrone Taylor's grounder to third to open the inning. After Arenado's first error of the season, Brandon Nimmo hit a two-run single and Pete Alonso hit a two-run homer to pull the Mets within 6-4.

Alonso's homer was his 200th since making his debut with the Mets. He joined Darryl Strawberry, Mike Piazza and David Wright as the fourth player to hit 200 home runs with the Mets.

The Mets struck out 13 times and lost for the fifth time in six games following a six-game winning streak.

Houser was tagged for six runs on nine hits in 4 1/3 innings. He has allowed 14 runs on 16 hits in his past two starts.

JoJo Romero and Andrew Kittredge pitched a scoreless inning apiece before Ryan Helsley escaped a bases-loaded jam in the ninth to convert his ninth save.

--Field Level Media