Griffin Canning gave the Mets a sick pitching performance Thursday night in more ways than one.
The right-hander held the St. Louis Cardinals to one earned run and fanned eight to help the Mets open the series with a 4-1 win at Citi Field. His best start in a Mets uniform so far, this came two days after he was unable to pitch in Minnesota because of an illness.
After dropping a series on the road to the Minnesota Twins, the Mets returned home to open a four-game series against the upstart Cards, who had been better than anticipated through the first 18 games. But they went down 4-0 in the second inning and never recovered, with Canning getting better as his outing went on.
Canning (2-1) threw 102 pitches in the win, the most for a Mets’ arm this season, and went six innings, giving up only one run on three hits and two walks, both of which came in the first inning. He used 23 bullets to get through the first, but only needed 11 to retire the side in order in the second. After the Mets scored four on right-hander Andrew Pallante in the bottom of the second, St. Louis got one back in the top of the third.
A leadoff single and a stolen base by Victor Scott II put a runner on second with none out for canning, who then struck out the next two. A wild pitch put him on third and he scored easily on Brendan Donovan’s single, but Nolan Arenado ended the inning with a ground ball to second base.
In the fourth, Alec Burleson led off with a bunt single before Canning struck out the next three. From there, he made light work of the Cards, retiring the next six, including fielding a bouncing ball by Alec Burleson for the final out in the sixth.
Mark Vientos hit his first home run of the season in the second, leading off with a shot to left against Pallante. With one out, Starling Marte lined a double to left field, and with two, Brett Baty sent him home with an RBI single. Tyrone Taylor sent one up the middle to put two on for Francisco Lindor, who cleared the bases with a single to right.
Pallante (2-1) settled in to go scoreless through the next four innings, but the damage was done. The Cards (9-10) did little against the Mets’ bullpen, managing only two baserunners over the final three innings against Reed Garrett, A.J. Minter and Edwin Diaz.
It was a solid bounce-back performance for the Mets, who dropped two in the Twin Cities this week. There were positive signs from Vientos, who came in hitting just .145, and Baty, who went 2-for-3 with a double and an RBI. But more importantly, Canning gave them six solid innings, helping a bullpen in the midst of a busy stretch of games.
