A big hit and a dominating pitching performance lead the St. Louis Cardinals to a win last night against the New York Mets. The hit, a grand slam off the bat of Felipe Lopez in the seventh, and Chris Carpenter gave up just one run in the Cards 4-3 win.
Carpenter was hoping to forget his last start, one where he gave up seven runs in five innings against the Brewers. He would do just that as the lone run came in the second, and then no more over his seven innings of work. Carpenter also struck out 10.
Mets starter Oliver Perez, who usually struggles against the Cardinals, kept them off the scoreboard until the bottom of the seventh. That is when St. Louis would start the rally.
David Freese would lead off the inning with a single. He would move over to second on a bunt by Joe Mather. Fernando Nieve would come in for the Mets and hit the next hitter, Skip Schumaker.
After a walk to pinch hitter Matt Holliday, the Mets went back to their bullpen and brought in Raul Valdes. Valdes would then give up the grand slam to Lopez which sailed into the left field bullpen.
The excitement was not over for the Cardinals though, as the bullpen continued to struggle. With a 4-1 lead, Blake Hawksworth and Dennys Reyes survived a scare from the Mets in the eighth. In the ninth, closer Ryan Franklin had trouble putting the game away as he have up two runs. He did pull himself together and picked up his fourth save of the season.
The Cardinals and Mets continue their series this afternoon as Jaime Garcia gets the start for St. Louis against Johan Santana for New York. First pitch is 3:10.
