By MATT PIKE
St. Joseph Post
Andre Pallante has been a bright spot in the Cardinals rotation, and once again put together another solid start on Thursday night against the Mets, but a rough second inning was to much to overcome as the Redbirds fell 4-1 at Citi Field.
After only giving up a single to Fransisco Lindor in the first inning, Pallante surrendered a leadoff home run to Mark Vientos to open the second. Pallante appeared to settle down after the homer, getting Brandon Nimmo to ground out, but after that Starling Marte doubled, and following a groundout by Luis Torrens Marte scored on a single from Brett Baty. Tyrone Taylor singled in the next at bat, then Lindor singled again to score both Baty and Taylor, however Lindor was thrown out at second base by right fielder Jordan Walker to end the inning.
The Cardinals lone run in the third inning started with a Victor Scott II single to lead off the inning. Scott II stole second base, and after back to back strikeouts by Lars Nootbaar and Willson Contreras, Scott II moved to third on a wild pitch, then later scored with a single by Brendan Donovan. Donovan wound up stranded at first base though, Nolan Arenado grounding out to end the top of the third inning. After the rough second inning, Pallante settled in, giving up just one more hit through his remaining four innings of work.
Pallante took the loss, losing his first game of the year and moving to 2-1 on the season, pitching six innings and giving up four runs on seven hits, striking out two. Three Cardinals hitters each had one hit at the plate.
St. Louis and New York continue their series tomorrow. Miles Mikolas takes the mound for the Cardinals against David Peterson for the Mets. First pitch is at 6:10pm, pregame coverage will be joined at 6 on KY 102 (102.5FM).
You can follow Matt on X @KfeqMatt and St. Joseph Post @StJosephPost.