Arenado homers twice, Cardinals beat Mets to take series

NEW YORK — Nolan Arenado hit two homers Sunday, including a tiebreaking shot in the ninth inning that lifted the St. Louis Cardinals to an 8-7 win over the New York Mets and a rare series win.

Arenado hit a two-run homer in the first inning for the Cardinals, who blew an early 5-1 lead before the third baseman homered off Adam Ottavino (0-3), his former teammate with the Colorado Rockies, with one out in the ninth.

Arenado had his 23rd career multi-homer game on his first Father’s Day since his first child, daughter Levi, was born last August. He also had a cycle on Father’s Day for the Rockies in 2017.

“Obviously thought about that’s cool — my first Father’s Day, hit a homer,” Arenado said. “And then (to) hit two. But I think about my Dad, too. He’s had a good one, the cycle I hit on Father’s Day in Colorado.”

With a grin, Arenado added “So he can have that one. This one, I’ll keep. This is for me.”

Paul DeJong and Jordan Walker also homered while Paul Goldschmidt had a two-run double and Brendan Donovan added an RBI single among his three hits for St. Louis, which was 0-5-1 in its previous six series.

“There’s some life in that clubhouse,” Cardinals manager Oliver Marmol said.

“That was a good one. To be able to score, give it up and then come back and continue to score — it was a good team win. A lot of guys contributed.”

Drew VerHagen (4-0), the Cardinals’ fourth pitcher, retired all five batters he faced. Jordan Hicks earned his second save in as many days in the ninth, when he got Starling Marte to hit into a game-ending double play.

“The boys were definitely relentless today,” Marmol said. “They wanted to just continue to push — even the innings we didn’t score, there was good momentum and good conversations taking place. Overall it felt different and I liked it. It was good.”

Francisco Lindor, whose wife gave birth to the couple’s second daughter Saturday morning, homered in the bottom of the first inning to begin the series of comebacks by the Mets, who trailed 5-1, 6-4 and 7-5 before Tommy Pham tied it with a two-run shot in the fifth.

Eduardo Escobar hit a run-scoring triple and Brandon Nimmo had a two-RBI double in the second inning and Mark Canha added an RBI single in the fourth inning for the Mets, who are 3-11 since sweeping the Philadelphia Phillies in a three-game series from May 30 through June 1.

Mets first baseman Pete Alonso went 0 for 4 with three strikeouts in his return from the injured list with a left wrist bone bruise and sprain.

“Frustrated for them because you could tell how much they put into getting back in that game and trying to cover some things that we were deficient at,” Mets manager Buck Showalter said. “Finally pushed through with Tommy and we just couldn’t push that other one across.”

The homers by DeJong and Pham continued their success against their respective opponents. DeJong, who has homered in six of the 15 games he’s played at Citi Field, has a .695 slugging percentage against the Mets, the highest of any player with at least 120 plate appearances.

“It’s one of those things that’s written in the stars, maybe,” DeJong said. “I love coming here. This is a great opportunity — big city lights. It’s always a fun environment to play here.”

Pham, who played 362 games for the Cardinals after being drafted by the team in 2006, is hitting .254 with four homers and 14 RBIs against his former club.

Cardinals starter Matthew Liberatore allowed five runs and struck out two in four innings. For the Mets, Carlos Carrasco allowed six runs (five earned) with four strikeouts in three innings.

TRAINER’S ROOM

Cardinals: OF Lars Nootbaar (lower back), who went 4-for-5 with a pair of homers and four RBIs while playing right field in his second rehab game Sunday for Triple-A Memphis, could join the Cardinals for their series in Washington that begins Monday night. … OF Dylan Carlson, who had a pinch-hit RBI single Saturday after being hit on the elbow by a pitch Friday, returned to the starting lineup and went 0-for-5.

Mets: To make room for Alonso, the Mets optioned IF/OF Mark Vientos to Triple-A Syracuse. … CF Brandon Nimmo was visited by a trainer but remained in the game after fouling consecutive pitches off his lower leg in the sixth inning. … RHP José Quintana (left rib) allowed two unearned runs over 3 1/3 innings in his second rehab start Sunday for Class A St. Lucie.

UP NEXT

Cardinals: A six-game road trip continues as RHP Jack Flaherty (3-5, 4.64 ERA) starts the opener of a three-game series against the Washington Nationals.

Mets: RHP Max Scherzer (5-2, 4.45 ERA) takes the ball as New York begins a six-game road trip with the opener of a three-game set against the Houston Astros. Scherzer has given up 11 runs over nine innings in his past two starts.