Brandon Nimmo smacked a decisive home run in the seventh inning, propelling the New York Mets to a 4-3 win over the St. Louis Cardinals on Monday night. Nimmo expressed, “Honestly, the home run I hit was a good pitch. That’s something that gives you confidence.”
Sean Manaea pitched effectively for six innings, supported by Edwin Díaz’s strong performance after a rare blown save on Sunday. The Mets recovered from a weekend sweep by Tampa Bay.
Mets manager Carlos Mendoza commented on Manaea’s game, saying, “He was aggressive with all of his pitches. He just threw strikes. That was the plan. He attacked the hitters.”
Iván Herrera contributed a two-run double for the Cardinals, who have struggled, losing five of their last six games.
Díaz redeemed himself with a flawless 1-2-3 inning, securing his fifth save in six opportunities. Despite a recent hiccup, Díaz had an impressive streak of 26 consecutive save conversions dating back to 2022, which was the longest active streak in the majors.
In his first career start against the Cardinals, Manaea allowed three runs, six hits, and one walk. He became the first Mets starter to claim a win since Luis Severino’s victory over Pittsburgh on April 17.
“I was just going after the hitters,” Manaea stated. “I felt good. My fastball and cutter were good. I thought my changeup was OK. My sweeper was good. All in all, it was a pretty good outing.”
Nimmo hit a home run off Andrew Kittredge with one out in the seventh, giving the Mets a 4-3 lead with his second go-ahead homer this season. Nimmo had two hits and scored twice. He has been hitting well recently, with a .317 average, two home runs, and seven RBIs in the last 11 games.
“I felt like, hey, it’s coming around,” Nimmo said. “I still feel like there’s more in the tank that I can get better at. I got some good pitches to do something with tonight. I just try and keep my head down and battle.”
It was the first homer Kittredge allowed this year. “It’s tough. If it’s not one thing, it’s another,” he said. “Our goal when we toe the mound is to put up zeros. It’s a long season. Right now, we’re trying to hang in there.”
St. Louis tied the score with three runs in the sixth. Willson Contreras doubled in José Fermín, who led off with a single. Paul Goldschmidt walked and Herrera doubled home two runs with two outs, but was thrown out stretching at third.
The clutch swing gave Herrera his first RBIs since April 17 and his first extra-base hit since April 10. “We had a good inning there and then we ran into a pretty good bullpen,” Cardinals manager Oliver Marmol said. “It’s hard to score on that back end.”
