Offensive Surge Gives Cardinals Big Comeback Win Over Mets

If you would have told me before the game that Joel Pineiro would not have a good night, and Johan Santana was pitching for the Mets, I would said, "Easy loss for the Cardinals."

It was not the case, as Santana was not totally on his game either, and Mets closer Francisco Rodriguez gave up his fourth blown save of the year. What was on for the Cardinals was their bats, as they scored 12 runs in 10 innings to beat the Mets in a comeback win, 12-7. Even bigger for the Cardinals might be that Albert Pujols came out of his slump and went 4-for-5 with two home runs, 11 total bases and 5 huge RBI's, one a homer off Santana in the 8th and the other a grand slam in the 10th inning to put the game away off Mets reliever Sean Green.

It was a great offensive display for the Cardinals, who came back from a 7-4 deficit with one run in the 8th and two runs in the 9th to tie the game at 7-7. Seven batters for the Cards had at least one RBI and the Cardinals pounded out 15 hits.

This was a huge win for the Cardinals and kept them in a tie for first place (but 2 back in the loss column) with the NL Central leading Chicago Cubs. The Cubs (57-48) beat a woeful Reds team 6-3 and are now 9 games above .500, while the Cards record goes to 59-50.