Dustin May pitched six stellar innings for his first win in nearly two months and Alec Burleson hit a two-run homer as the visiting St. Louis Cardinals extended their winning streak to five games with a 7-0 victory over the New York Mets on Tuesday night.
May (4-6) earned his first win since April 21 by scattering four hits. After going 0-4 with a 3.86 ERA in his previous seven starts, May struck out six and walked one.
Rookie JJ Wetherholt hit a two-run single and Jordan Walker rapped an RBI double to highlight a four-run third inning off New York starter Freddy Peralta (4-5). Lars Nootbaar added an RBI groundout to cap the big inning for the Cardinals, who also ended a five-game road losing streak to the Mets.
Ivan Herrera reached base five times, including three hits, and scored three times.
Herrera was hit by Peralta in his first two plate appearances. After the second one, he scored on Walker’s double to left for a 3-0 lead in the third.
In the fifth, Herrera singled and scored when Burleson sent a 2-1 curveball into the left field seats. In the seventh, Herrera poked a leadoff double before trotting home on Burleson’s double off Joey Gerber.
Before the Cardinals scored four times, May stranded rookie A.J. Ewing at third by striking out Marcus Semien and Brett Baty. He also retired rookie Carson Benge on a double play to end the third and was aided by center fielder Nathan Church crashing into the fence to rob Semien of a two-run double to end the fourth.
Church had three hits, including a double in the third and made his key defensive play after missing the past 15 games with a strained left shoulder.
Justin Bruhl followed May with two innings and Matt Swanson completed the Cardinals’ third shutout with a 1-2-3 ninth.
After winning seven of their previous 10, the Mets were blanked for the seventh time this season and second time against the Cardinals.
Peralta allowed a season-worst six runs on six hits in six innings. The right-hander struck out five and walked two.
