ST. LOUIS, Mo. — Somewhat lost in the build-up to a rarity — a one-off, makeup game crammed into an already-packed road trip for the Mets — was the importance of the novelty.
Carlos Mendoza’s group entered play 1 ½ games back in the fight for the last National League wild card, a battle the Cardinals are also trying to hang around.
With one big inning, a couple small ones and one more big start from Sean Manaea, the Mets put a dent in one challenger’s hopes.
Behind Manaea, the Mets bounced back from a series loss in Anaheim with what technically is a one-game sweep, a 6-0 victory at Busch Stadium in which the Mets could have looked tired and instead looked inspired.
For Game Four of a 10-games-in-10-days trip that spans over 8,000 miles, the Mets left California, spent the day in Missouri and were set to jet back west to Colorado.
There could have been bickering on a sweltering, Midwestern afternoon, but there isn’t much complaining these days when Manaea is on the mound.
The lefty threw seven more shutout innings for the Mets (59-53), upping his streak to 14 straight frames in which he has been unscored upon in his past two starts, and was at his best when he needed to be.
Manaea was not perfect on a day he allowed six hits, but he was perfect when the Cardinals (57-56) threatened. St. Louis batters went 0-for-7 with runners in scoring position against Manaea, who typically saved his 10 strikeouts for when they would come in handy.
In back-to-back outings, Manaea has punched out double-digit batters.
In the third inning, the Cardinals put two on with two outs for Willson Contreras, who got ahead 3-1 in the count.
Manaea responded with an outside-corner sweeper and a 95.7-mph fastball that Contreras swung through, Manaea pounding his glove as he walked off the mound.
The bouts with trouble and the escapes out of trouble continued. In the fourth, the Cardinals put two more on base for Pedro Pages, who went to a knee whiffing on a good sweeper.
In the fifth inning, it was Masyn Winn who reached second base with two outs before Contreras sent a drive to deep right, where Tyrone Taylor made a nice leaping catch against the wall for another Houdini act.
At a time when there are plenty of questions surrounding the Mets rotation — Kodai Senga likely will not pitch in at least the regular season, Luis Severino’s velocity was down in his most recent outing and Jose Quintana was not crisp Sunday — Manaea has stepped up into a front-of-the-rotation type of pitcher. Punching out the final batter of the inning in five of his frame, Manaea lowered his ERA to 3.30.
Ryne Stanek and Edwin Diaz finished off the six-hit shutout and received more help from the offense than they needed.
The Mets’ first run scored accidentally. Jose Iglesias, stepping in for the banged-up Mark Vientos, reached third base with two outs and watched Cardinals pitcher Andre Pallante spike a wild pitch that provided the only run the Mets required.
The other runs were more purposeful. The Mets exploded for a four-run fifth in which they sent eight men to the plate.
Harrison Bader, in his return to St. Louis, smacked an RBI double. After a Francisco Lindor walk loaded the bases, Tyrone Taylor — bumped up to the No. 2 spot on a day Pete Alonso batted fifth — cleared the bases with a double volleyed down the right-field line to blow the game open.
More insurance came in the sixth, when the still-hot Jeff McNeil smacked his 10th home run of the season.
Considering the Mets did not want to play this makeup game in the middle of an already trying road trip, a win makes the trip to Coors Field much happier.
