Winn singles in 11th to lift Cardinals over Mets 2-1

Masyn Winn singled home the winning run with two outs in the 11th inning to give the St. Louis Cardinals a 2-1 victory over the slumping New York Mets on Wednesday.

Nolan Gorman hit a tying single in the sixth and reliever Gordon Graceffo (1-0) pitched out of a bases-loaded, one-out jam in the top of the 11th.

St. Louis (4-2) took two of three games from the Mets, who went 1 for 29 with runners in scoring position during the series, including 0 for 11 in the finale. New York (3-3) is batting .162 in those situations this year.

Matthew Liberatore allowed one run and three hits in six innings.

The start was delayed an hour because of rain. 

Francisco Lindor made a couple of uncharacteristic mental mistakes Wednesday, and the second one certainly cost the Mets.

The star shortstop lost track of the outs on defense in the opening inning and got picked off first base in the sixth — right before teammate Juan Soto homered. The slumping Mets stranded 11 runners.

Lindor reached base in the sixth on a one-out error by third baseman Nolan Gorman, but the leadoff hitter wandered too far off the bag and was fiddling with his gloves when he was easily picked off by St. Louis starter Matthew Liberatore.

“I should have been better,” Lindor said.

Mets manager Carlos Mendoza credited the Cardinals with making a good move to nab Lindor.

“They got us there,” Mendoza said. “He was going to go. They got us with a quick step-off there. I wouldn’t consider that one there a mental mistake. He was trying to get some momentum there and being aggressive.”

Three pitches later, Soto hit a soaring fly that landed just over the right-field fence inside the foul pole for a solo home run.

In the first inning, Lindor failed to execute a potential double play when he forgot how many outs there were.

With one out and Iván Herrera on first, left-handed-hitting Alec Burleson hit a grounder to Lindor at shortstop. Positioned near second base, Lindor touched the bag but then headed toward the dugout instead of throwing to first to retire Burleson as well.

By the time Lindor realized his mistake, it was too late. New York starter Freddy Peralta struck out the next batter to end the inning.

“I forgot the outs,” Lindor said. “I made a mistake that probably cost Peralta an extra inning because he had to throw more pitches after that. It’s inexcusable. He probably could have gone six, seven innings. I just forgot the outs. I realized there was just one out. Honest mistake.”

Mendoza didn’t cover for Lindor.

“There’s no excuses,” Mendoza said. “He’ll be the first one that tells you that. That can’t happen. He knows. He was pretty (ticked) when he came in. Peralta did a good job picking him up and finishing that inning.”

New York (3-3) went 1 for 29 with runners in scoring position during the three-game series, including 0 for 11 in the finale.

Following an off day, RHP Michael McGreevy (0-0) starts for the Cardinals Friday in Detroit against LHP Framber Valdez (0-0).


(AP Photo LG Patterson)