Mets unable to overcome Jose Butto’s early struggles in 4-2 loss to Cardinals
The Mets offense couldn't get much going on Friday night, falling 4-2 to the Cardinals at Citi Field.
Here are the key takeaways…
-Jose Butto made his fourth start of the season on Friday night but did not have his best outing. The right-hander struggled, especially in the second inning when he hit Nolan Arenado and walked Paul Goldschmidt, which set up a three-run home run from Cardinals DH Alec Burleson, who launched a changeup over the inside part of the plate into right-center field to give St. Louis an early 3-0 lead.
The following inning, Butto left a first-pitch sinker over the middle of the plate to Willson Contreras for a leadoff home run, extending the Cardinals lead to 4-0.
But Butto settled down after that stretch, retiring the 11 consecutive Cardinals batters before allowing a single to Goldschmidt with two outs in the sixth. He walked Burleson and was unable to finish the inning, exiting the game with a final line of 5.2 innings pitched, allowing four earned runs on four hits, three walks, a hit batter and four strikeouts.
-J.D. Martinez had an impressive Mets debut, going 2-for-4 with a single and RBI double. The DH nearly had a home run instead of a double, lacing a fastball the opposite way into right field and off the top of the wall to drive in Francisco Lindor. Martinez did strike out in each of his other at-bats, including leading off the ninth inning.
-Tomas Nido, in just his third start of the season, had quite the day at the plate as he fills in for the injured Francisco Alvarez. He finished 2-for-3 with a double and solo home run, which put the Mets on the board at the time, 4-1.
-The Mets bullpen continues to be a bright spot for the team, even in a loss. Josh Walker, Jorge Lopez and Sean Reid-Foley combined to throw 3.1 scoreless innings, allowing just one hit and a walk – both from Walker – between the three of them while striking out six. Lopez had three of those six strikeouts in 1.2 innings of work.
Who was the MVP?
Miles Mikolas. The Cardinals starting pitcher may not have been overpowering – he allowed seven hits in 5.2 innings – but he still held the Mets to just two runs and struck out five while never really finding himself in any serious trouble throughout the game.
Highlights
What’s next
The Mets continue their three-game series against the St. Louis Cardinals on Saturday at 4:05 p.m. on FOX.
Adrian Houser will start for the Mets while the Cardinals will send Sonny Gray to the mound.
