July 18th 2015 -- Cardinals 12, Mets 2

Saturday night in St. Louis the Cardinals jumped all over Met starter Bartolo Colon for 7 runs in 4 1/3 innings. They go on to blow out the Mets 12-2.  The barrage started in the bottom of the first as Colon untypically walked two batters and allowed RBI singles to Jhonny Peralta and Jason Heyward and a two run ground-rule double by Yadier Molina and it was 4-0 Cards.  The Red Birds scored 4 more times in the bottom of the 5^th.  Heyward and  Mark Reynolds each had RBI doubles, then after Colon was relieved by Carlos Torres,  Randal Grichuk hit an opposite field 2 run homer, his 8^th on the year, and it was 8-zip. In the bottom of the 8^th, an error by Ruben Tejada allowed Pete Kozma to score with run # 9, then Grichuk hit a 3 run homer, his 9^th on the year to seal the blow out.  Heyward went 5 for 5 on the night; Grichuk went 3 for 3 with the 2 homers and 6 RBI.  The Mets scored their 2^nd run in the top of the 8^th on a RBI double by Tejada.   John Lackey started for the Cards and scattered 10 hits over 7 innings. Michael Cuddyer went 3 for 5 with a solo homer in the 6^th, his 8^th on the year, and that accounted for the Mets only run.  Colon drops to 9-8 on the season, going the 4 1/3 allowing 8 hits 7 runs (all earned) 3 walks and 5 k’s.  Lackey gets the win improving to 8-5. With the loss the Mets have now dropped their first 2 out of the All-Star Break.  They now stand at 47-44 overall and 15-30 on the road.  The Nats went 1-1 on Saturday. Winning the suspended game from Friday night and losing Saturday, so the Mets find themselves 3 games out of 1^st in the NL East.  Sunday afternoon is the final game of the series. Jonathon Niese (5-8 3.61) goes for the Mets. Tim Cooney (0-0 4.34) goes for St. Louis.