Cardinals blast Mets 14-9 for first Grapefruit League win

A day after managing only four hits and no runs in seven innings against the Marlins, the St. Louis Cardinals‘ bats exploded Wednesday afternoon against the New York Mets.

The Cardinals pounded out 11 hits en route to a 14-9 win, their first of spring training, at Roger Dean Chevrolet Stadium in Jupiter, Florida.

The victory marked the first nine-inning game of the Cardinals’ spring. Their previous two contests ended with tied scores and were shortened at manager discretion.

Andrew Knizner led the Cardinals’ offensive surge with two hits, including a go-ahead, two-run double in the third inning. Knizner also caught five innings.

After the Mets scored three runs in the first off starter Kwang Hyun Kim, Nolan Arenado put the Cardinals on the scoreboard with an opposite-field single in the bottom of the inning. It was his first RBI as a Cardinal and scored Tommy Edman, who had led off with a double.

The Mets tacked on two more runs in the second inning, including one off Kim, but John Nogowski hit the Cardinals’ first home run this spring, a three-run shot that cut the deficit to 5-4.

Seven Cardinals batted in the third, highlighted by Knizner’s go-ahead, two-run double and Justin Williams’s RBI single. After allowing a walk to Nogowski, the Mets ended the inning with two outs because Jacob Barnes had thrown more than 20 pitches,.

Kim struggled with his command and was taken out in the first inning. The left-hander tossed 39 pitches (23 for strikes), allowing two walks, four runs (three earned) and four hits over two-thirds of an inning.

The second of those two outs came in the second inning. MLB’s spring training rules this season allow a pitcher who is removed from a game to re-enter it later, so Kim returned to start the second inning and faced two batters, striking out one and walking the other.

Eight Cardinals relievers covered the rest of the game, allowing a combined five runs.

Second baseman José Rondón had St. Louis’ only other multi-hit game, hitting a run-scoring triple in the sixth and a two-run homer in the eighth to finish 2 for 3. Catcher Ali Sanchez added a solo homer in the eighth.

The Cardinals head to West Palm Beach for the next two games, taking on the Houston Astros on Thursday and the Washington Nationals on Friday. The next broadcast on FOX Sports Midwest is at noon Sunday, when the Cardinals host the Astros.