Mets Pull Off Stunning 9th Inning Comeback To Take Series Opener From Cardinals

The Mets were down to their final strike on Monday night, but erupted for five runs to pull off a miraculous comeback to take the series opener from the Cardinals.

Jeff Curry-USA TODAY Sports

Throughout the first 18 games of the regular season, the Mets have proven one thing: they won't go away easily. 

And on Monday night, this proved to be the case once more as the Mets pulled off a miraculous comeback, scoring five unanswered runs in the ninth inning, to take the series opener at Busch Stadium over the St. Louis Cardinals by a score of 5-2.

Trailing by two runs and down to their final strike in the top of the ninth, Nolan Arenado's throwing error on a Mark Canha ground ball allowed Eduardo Escobar to come home with the Mets' first run.

A red-hot Jeff McNeil subsequently followed this up with a double off Cardinals closer Giovanny Gallegos to put the tying and go-ahead runs in scoring position. That's when Dominic Smith delivered the hit the Mets had been longing for on a night, where they were shutout for 8 2/3 innings by the Cardinals' pitching staff. Smith's infield single, which saw him hustle and beat Gallegos to the first base bag with a head first slide, scored both runs to give the Mets a 3-2 lead. McNeil, who was standing on second base, used heads up base-running awareness to come around to score the go-ahead run on Smith's grounder up the first base line. 

Let's slow that all down a bit 😅

-DOM SMITH WITH THE DIVE AND HUSTLE

-JEFF MCNEIL SCORES ALL THE WAY FROM SECOND

-THE METS TAKE A 3-2 LEAD pic.twitter.com/zIw0g9NLZL

— SNY (@SNYtv) April 26, 2022

As a result, Cardinals manager Oliver Marmol pulled his closer in favor of T.J. McFarland. But McFarland couldn't stop the bleeding for St. Louis, serving up a two-run homer to Brandon Nimmo, which saw the Mets cap off a five-run ninth inning. Mets closer Edwin Diaz worked around a two-out walk to secure the comeback with his second save of 2022. 

Lost in the shuffle was another dominant performance by superstar pitcher Max Scherzer. The righty tossed seven shutout innings on 101 pitches, allowing just two hits, while striking out 10 batters for the second straight outing. Across his last two starts, the 37-year-old has combined for 14 innings, one run, four hits, 20 strikeouts and four walks. Scherzer also notched the 106th double digit strikeout game of his career, which is fifth most all-time in MLB history. 

For the 106th time in his career tonight, Max Scherzer notched double-digit strikeouts 🔥 pic.twitter.com/xEyjDFzCDH

— SNY (@SNYtv) April 26, 2022

Scherzer and Cardinals starter Miles Mikolas matched each other with seven scoreless innings on Monday evening. However, both hurlers wound up with a no-decision. 

Although Trevor May allowed two runs in the bottom of the eighth, the Mets refused to quit, which resulted in one of their most impressive wins of this young season. 

The Mets are now 13-5 and will look to set a franchise record on Tuesday night with their sixth consecutive series victory to open up the year. 

Read More:

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