St. Louis Cardinals starting pitcher John Gast delivers a pitch to the New York Mets in the second inning. UPI/Bill Greenblatt
Cardinals rookie pitcher John Gast picked up a win in his first major league start, but it certainly helped that the bats provided early run support in the Cardinals 10-4 win. Carlos Beltran drove in four runs, including a three-run homer, as Gast made it through six innings on 71 pitches. Gast (1-0) tossed five shutout innings before giving up four runs in the sixth. He gave up six hits, struck out three and walked one.
AUDIO Gast on his outing and handling his nerves.
Beltran slammed a three-run homer in the fifth inning, his team-high tenth, to give the Cardinals a 9-0 lead at that point. He also added a run-scoring hit in the third. His homer landed in Big Mac Land.
AUDIO Beltran describes his bomb.
The Cardinals won for the 11th time in their last 13 games.
Watch Beltran’s homer, courtesy MLB.com