clock menu more-arrow no yes mobile

Filed under:

Cardinals Lock Down Mets 9-0 | 5.20.15 Recap

The Cardinals score big again as the offense dismantles Mets pitching and Carlos Martinez shuts down their offense in NYC.

By dr. howl
Andy Marlin-USA TODAY Sports

Just like the previous game, the Cardinals offense was on fire from the get-go. Leading off, Kolten Wong smacked one to center. Matt Carpenter flied out, but then the new and improved spring Matt Holliday got a hit, so that put men at first and second. Another Matt created an out, but then Jhonny Peralta incurred the ground rule double rule by jacking the junk out of a baseball far out into the outfield.

Both Holliday and Peralta are pushing towards the .900 OPS tier, Jhonny with more slugging and Matt H. with more on-base skills. Yadi flied out to end the inning. Carlos' first inning pitching this game was pretty smooth, giving up a hit but getting 2 flyouts and a K.

Martinez, or Tsunami as he's dubbed himself, dispatched the side again in the 2nd inning, but not without a little pain as Carlos hit Lagares in the back, allowing another runner to get on base but getting out of it with little problem. Offensively, Heyward singled in the top of the inning.

To begin the third, Matt Carpenter and Matt Holliday singled, but then the 4-5-6 guys didn't get anyone home. So the game was still 1-0 Cardinals. The bottom half saw Bartolo Colon running out an error by Yadi and getting on first. The big man threatened to score after Granderson and Duda singles, but Tsunami showed poise and was the escape artist he needed to be there.

The 4th inning started off with a bang. Jason Heyward hit his 4th home run of 2015. The 4th inning is also where the offense really started to tear into Bartolo Colon. After the J-Hey dinger, Grichuk got on base on an error, then Tsunami bunted him over. Next, Wong slapped a single to knock in Randal, Matt Carpenter walked as he's wont to do, Matt Holliday singled again, and Matt Adams hit the second home run of the inning which was also his 4th dinger for the natural Mattrick.


"Be sure to remember where are at this moment

This moment the Matts combined for the Natural Mattrick."

by lil_scooter93 on May 20, 2015 | 5:29 PM

The Cardinals offense continued its attack in the 5th inning, where Heyward walked to start off the action, Grichuk doubled scoring Jason, and later Kolten Wong rapped another single to bring in Grichuk. By this point the game was a blowout at 9-0, and even though at times it seemed like Carlos Martinez had a convoluted situation arising, he would get out of it unscathed. He's still reigning in his filthy abilities, but he was focused enough to shutdown the Mets. Tsunami pitched into the 7th, and was relieved by Randy Choate who induced a double play.

By the fifth inning, the WPA graph was already skewed and bottomed out to the road team's favor. This was a really fun game with some very nice defensive plays by Randal Grichuk and Jason Heyward. Not only is this defense fun to watch, the offense seems quite capable of reducing poor pitching into a pile of dust with a well-rounded attack.

Socolovich finished up the night's festivities by having 1-2-3 innings in the 8th and 9th. The Cardinals offense combined for 14 hits, 2 home runs, and 3 walks. Wong and Holliday had 3 hits a piece.

Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R
Cardinals 1 0 0 6 2 0 0 0 0 9
Mets 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0


Source: FanGraphs

Look at that graph! Holliday and Heyward lead the offense in WPA, while Matt Adams broke the system with 3 RBI and a negative WPA. Martinez lead all players in WPA with his shutdown start. He wasn't on top of his game today, but was still rather effective. His 9.68 K/9 on the season is his most exciting attribute.

Tune in at 12:10 tomorrow for the return of Jaime Garcia! He goes up vs deGrom. This will be the 4th game in a row vs the Mets. The Cardinals lost the opener in a tough one to Matt Harvey, then proceeded to dismantle and destroy Mets pitching the past two games. The run totals are 20-4 in favor of the Cards. The Cardinals have 38 hits so far to the Mets' 19, basically lapping them on the bases. It's been anything but dull in NY so far this week.

More From Viva El Birdos