Manaea, Mets Silence Cardinals in 6-0 Win
After losing their series against the Angels, the Mets (59-53) interrupted their West Coast road trip for a one-game stop in St. Louis on Monday to take on the Cardinals (57-56). The matchup between the Wild Card hopefuls needed to be made up from early May when their originally scheduled game was canceled due to rain. Sean Manaea (8-4, 3.30 ERA) and Andre Pallante (4-6, 4.43 ERA) took the mound, with Manaea and the Mets coming out on top 6-0.
Sean Manaea followed his best outing of the year with a nearly identical outing. Manaea was brilliant through seven shutout innings, striking out ten without walking a batter. He dealt with some traffic early in the game but masterfully worked out of it as he piled up the strikeouts for the second straight start.
Manaea lowered his 2024 ERA from 3.50 to 3.30 and recorded his eighth win of the season to give him the team lead. In a game against another team in the Wild Card hunt that was pretty close to “must-win,” Manaea delivered a phenomenal performance.
Sean Manaea, Nasty 79mph Back Door Sweeper. ????
10th K pic.twitter.com/RYWkuKH0WI
— Rob Friedman (@PitchingNinja) August 5, 2024
The Mets had it working at the plate in addition to Manaea’s success on the mound. Before the game, Carlos Mendoza made the interesting decision to shift the heart of the order down a spot by having Tyrone Taylor bat second. That moved Brandon Nimmo to third, J.D. Martinez to fourth, and Pete Alonso to fifth. It was the first time since the 2020 season that Alonso batted below the cleanup spot in the order.
That decision paid off for Mendoza, as Taylor delivered the hit to open up the game in the fifth inning. The Mets were up 2-0, having scored on a wild pitch in the second inning and a Harrison Bader RBI double just two batters prior. With runners on second and third, Francisco Lindor walked before Taylor drove a double down the right field line, clearing the bases and giving the Mets a 5-0 lead.
Tyrone Taylor keeps the party going to clear the bases and make it a 5-0 game! pic.twitter.com/5bg323eong
— Metsmerized Online (@Metsmerized) August 5, 2024
The Mets drove Pallante out of the game after the next batter, as he had thrown 34 pitches in the inning and had 90 through 4 2/3 innings. The breakout fifth inning by the Mets’ offense put five runs to Pallante’s name, raising his season ERA from 4.04 to 4.43.
Jeff McNeil added to the Mets’ lead in the sixth inning with a two-out solo home run that he crushed down the right field line, putting the Mets ahead 6-0. It was his tenth home run of the year and his second hit of the night as he continues his torrent post-All-Star play.
The offense stagnated after McNeil’s long ball, but the bullpen ensured the Mets’ lead remained intact. Ryne Stanek was the first pitcher out of the bullpen in the eighth inning, and he had his first solid outing as a Met, striking out a batter and getting a double play to get through the inning in just 12 pitches.
Despite the Mets holding a 6-0 lead heading into the bottom of the ninth, Edwin Díaz was called upon to close out the game as he had not pitched in a game since July 30. It was a shutdown inning for Díaz, who recorded a strikeout, a weak groundout, and a flyout to secure the win. The victory puts the Mets at 59-53 on the year and officially gives them the tiebreaker over the Cardinals.
Statistic of the Game: Strikeout Surge
With his ten strikeouts in this game, Sean Manaea has totaled 21 over his last two starts. Per the SNY broadcast, that is the first time in Manaea’s career that he has tallied 20 or more strikeouts across two consecutive starts. He is also the third left-handed pitcher in Mets history with back-to-back double-digit strikeout games, joining Jerry Koosman and Sid Fernandez.
Manaea is in the midst of an unbelievable stretch on the mound, as he now owns a 2.28 ERA with 62 strikeouts over his last ten starts.
Player of the Game
Props go to the offense for breaking out, but Sean Manaea is on another level right now. He’s pitching his best baseball of the season and some of the best baseball of his career. With the rest of the Mets’ rotation not a sure thing right now, Manaea’s contributions of late have been massive.
On Deck
The Mets head back out west to take on the Rockies at Coors Field on Tuesday. Luis Severino (7-4, 3.93 ERA) will be on the mound after faltering in his last start, while Kyle Freeland (3-4, 5.76 ERA) will go for Colorado. Severino has yet to pitch against the Rockies in his career, while Freeland is 2-1 with a 2.52 ERA in five appearances against the Mets.
The game will air on SNY, with the first pitch scheduled for 8:40 p.m. ET.
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