Two Out of Three Ain’t Bad, But Juan Soto Spoils the Sweep

Two Out of Three Ain’t Bad, But Soto Spoils the Sweep
The Cardinal Chronicle
St. Louis, MO
By Ray Mileur

The St. Louis Cardinals did not finish the job Thursday afternoon at Citi Field, but they still leave New York with the series in hand.

The Mets avoided the sweep with a 5-4 win in the final regular-season meeting between the two clubs, and of course, it was Juan Soto who spoiled the day. Soto broke a 4-4 tie in the seventh inning with a go-ahead home run off JoJo Romero, giving New York the final run it needed and handing the Cardinals a narrow loss after St. Louis had taken the first two games of the series.

Two out of three ain’t bad. A sweep would have been better.

The Cardinals came out swinging early. Alec Burleson opened the scoring in the first inning with his 11th home run of the season, a solo shot to right field off Christian Scott. New York answered immediately in the bottom half, with Bo Bichette launching a two-run homer off Hunter Dobbins before Jared Young followed with a solo shot of his own, putting the Mets ahead 3-1.

St. Louis punched right back in the second. Lars Nootbaar cut the deficit to one with his second home run of the season, and Jimmy Crooks followed with a two-run blast, the first of his big-league career, to put the Cardinals ahead 4-3.

For a moment, it looked like another one of those Cardinal answers that has defined this recent stretch. Fall behind, respond. Get pushed, push back harder. That has been the personality of this club lately.

But the Mets kept hanging around.

Young, who had already homered in the first, tied the game in the fifth with an RBI single off Justin Bruihl. Then in the seventh, Soto delivered the swing that changed the afternoon, driving his 14th home run of the season and giving New York a 5-4 lead it would not give back.

The loss snapped the Cardinals’ winning streak, but it did not erase the work they did in Queens. St. Louis won the series, took control early in the first two games, and came within a couple of innings of finishing off a sweep against a Mets team that has had very little success against them this season.

Hunter Dobbins had to fight through early damage, with the Mets jumping him for three runs in the first. After that, the Cardinals’ pitching staff kept the game close enough to win, but the offense went quiet after the second inning. The early power gave St. Louis a lead, but the missed chances afterward left the door cracked open.

And when Soto gets a cracked door, he usually does not knock politely.

The Cardinals leave New York having won two of three, closing out the regular-season series against the Mets with another strong showing overall. The sweep slipped away, but the larger takeaway remains encouraging: this club continues to play competitive baseball, continues to answer punches, and continues to stack series wins.

No one likes giving one back late. But on the road, against a team trying to salvage its homestand, two out of three still travels.

The Cardinals just missed the broom. Soto made sure of that.

The Cardinal Chronicle, in association with Gateway Sports
Preserving the Past, Promoting the Present, and Projecting the Future.

Check out The Cardinal Chronicle for more St. Louis Cardinals coverage, daily farm reports, prospect updates and old-school baseball commentary:
www.cardinalchronicle.com

Photo Credit: Juan Soto, New York Mets | MLB