Due to Carlos Carrasco’s inability to yet again eat some innings in his start, the Mets’ already-stretched bullpen was left to implode on Sunday afternoon in St. Louis, allowing four runs in the seventh inning as the Cardinals took the four-game series finale 7-3.
Paul Goldschmidt played the part of the main Mets terrorizer, going 3-for-4 with a home run and three RBI.
It was Trevor Gott who was responsible for allowing all four Cardinals runs in the seventh, yielding an RBI single to Willson Contreras before Jordan Walker tacked on another with a double. Richie Palacios plated another two with a single with just one out in the frame, ending Gott’s miserable outing.
The reliever hadn’t allowed a run since July 22, ending a streak of 12 consecutive clean outings with a resounding thud.
He was the fourth of five Mets (58-67) relievers used after Carrasco only lasted four-plus innings while squandering a pair of one-run leads.
Jonathan Arauz put the Mets ahead in the third inning with an RBI single off St. Louis starter Daniel Hudson, but Goldschmidt canceled it out with a one-run single of his own.
Pete Alonso supplied Carrasco with the lead almost immediately in the top of the fourth when he bombed his 39th home run of the season, which left the bat at 114 mph and landed in the third deck of the left-field seats.
After getting through the bottom of the frame unscathed, Carrasco couldn’t record a single out in the fifth when Goldschmidt launched his 20th home run of the season, a two-run shot, to give the Cardinals their first lead of the day.
Asked after the game if Carrasco would remain in the rotation, Mets skipper Buck Showalter demurred and hinted that the veteran pitcher would likely make his next scheduled start.
“That is not something we’re thinking about right now,” Showalter said. “Carlos has had some competitive outings for us recently, and that’s been big for us.”
The Mets pulled one back in the eighth when, with two on, Francisco Alvarez lined a single that scored Jeff McNeil from second. After the ball squirted away from Cardinals left fielder, Tyler O’Neill, Alonso tried to score from first but was thrown out at the plate to end the inning.
The Amazin’ went down quietly in the ninth, but were able to leave St. Louis having taken three of the four-game series. A far bigger challenge looms on Monday, when the Mets head to Atlanta to open a three-game set with the first-place Braves.
