Cardinals 9, Mets 0
NEW YORK -- Right-hander Carlos Martinez threw 6 1/3 scoreless innings Wednesday night and the St. Louis Cardinals scored six runs in the fourth inning of a 9-0 rout of the New York Mets at Citi Field.
The Cardinals (27-13) have outscored the Mets (23-18) 19-2 in winning the middle two games of the four-game series. St. Louis also scored six runs in the sixth inning of Tuesday's 10-2 win.
Right fielder Jason Heyward homered leading off the fourth and first baseman Matt Adams provided the big blow six batters later with a three-run homer off Mets right-hander Bartolo Colon.
Martinez, who gave up 16 runs in 14 innings in his last three starts, improved to 4-2 after allowing four hits and two walks while striking out five.
The Mets only threatened once against Martinez, but he escaped a bases-loaded, one-out jam in the third by retiring left fielder Michael Cuddyer on a liner to center and getting second baseman Daniel Murphy to ground out.
Second baseman Kolten Wong had three hits and two RBI and left fielder Matt Holliday had three singles and an RBI. Holliday has reached base in all 38 games this season. Left fielder Randal Grichuk had two hits and an RBI.
Colon fell to 6-3 after giving up all nine runs (eight earned), 11 hits and two walks while striking out four in 4 1/3 innings. His ERA has soared from 3.30 to 4.85 in his last two starts.
First baseman Lucas Duda had two singles for the Mets.
The Cardinals had no trouble hitting Colon but produced just one run and six hits in the first three innings before busting out in the fourth.
Heyward led off the fourth with a homer and Grichuk reached on an error by third baseman Eric Campbell. Grichuk went to second on a sacrifice by Martinez and scored on Wong's single.
Colon, who broke Bret Saberhagen's team record for most consecutive innings without a walk an inning earlier, walked third baseman Matt Carpenter. It was the first walk issued by Colon in 48 2/3 innings. Holliday followed with an RBI single and Adams crushed a three-run homer off the signage above the bullpens in right field.
Colon was allowed to start the fifth, when Heyward drew a leadoff walk and scored on a double by Grichuk. Colon was lifted after striking out Martinez. Wong's single off left-hander Jack Leathersich scored Grichuk and closed the book on Colon's nightmarish evening.
NOTES: Mets LHP Josh Edgin and RHP Zack Wheeler, both of whom had Tommy John surgery in March, are in New York and scheduled to visit with team doctors Thursday. ... Wednesday marked the 37th straight day the Mets held at least a share of the National League East lead. The Mets were in first place for just 29 days from 2010 through 2014. ... LHP Jaime Garcia, the Cardinals' scheduled starter on Thursday, will be activated from the 15-day disabled list before the game. Garcia, who underwent surgery to repair thoracic outlet syndrome last July 10, hasn't pitched for the Cardinals since June 20, 2014. ... LHP Marco Gonzales, the Cardinals' reigning minor league pitcher of the year, had his best start of the season for Triple-A Memphis on Tuesday when he allowed one run and five hits in six innings.