Wacha wins fourth straight start as Cards rout Mets

[April 26, 2018]  Michael Wacha won his fourth straight start Wednesday night and Jedd Gyorko cracked his 100th career home run as the St. Louis Cardinals routed the sloppy New York Mets 9-1 at Busch Stadium in St. Louis.

Wacha (4-1) sailed through six innings, yielding just five hits and a run with one walk and a season-high eight strikeouts. The outing avenged his only loss of the year against New York on March 31 in a game where Wacha failed to make it out of the fifth inning.

Steven Matz (1-2) was knocked out during St. Louis' four-run fourth inning that essentially ended the game's competitive phase. Matz was charged with five hits and seven runs, three earned, in 3 1/3 innings. He walked two and fanned three.

Jay Bruce's broken-bat single in the third scored Michael Conforto to put the Mets on top, but the Cardinals erased it in the inning's bottom with more than a little help from Matz.

His throwing error on Wacha's one-out sacrifice bunt helped Kolten Wong go from first to third. After a walk to pinch-hitter Harrison Bader, Dexter Fowler lofted a sacrifice fly to tie the game. Jose Martinez singled to refill the bases, and Marcell Ozuna broke out of a 1-for-24 skid with a two-run single.

More New York largesse fueled the fourth. Wacha dropped a safety squeeze bunt to score Paul DeJong, and catcher Jose Lobaton clanked the throw for an error that moved Wong from first to third. Matz then plunked Bader and walked Fowler to make it 5-1 and end his night.

Cardinals starting pitcher Michael Wacha (52) pitches during the first inning against the New York Mets at Busch Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Jeff Curry-USA TODAY Sports

Martinez's fielder's choice grounder scored Wacha for a 6-1 advantage, and Ozuna's bouncer to third was butchered by Todd Frazier for a run-scoring error that capped the rally.

Gyorko ended the night's scoring in the fifth when he touched Corey Oswalt, making his major league debut, for a two-run shot into the Mets' bullpen in left-center field. It was Gyorko's first homer of the season.

John Brebbia pitched the last three innings to garner his first career save.

--Field Level Media

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