Martínez shuts down Mets, Nogowski homers in Cardinals’ 3-0 win

Carlos Martínez fired six scoreless innings and John Nogowski‘s early home run sparked the St. Louis Cardinals to a 3-0 win Wednesday over the New York Mets.

Making his fourth straight start against the Mets, Martínez rebounded from a five-run, three-inning outing just five days ago. Wednesday marked his longest start and second scoreless appearance in Grapefruit League play.

Martínez forced five groundball outs over the first two innings. He finished the day with eight grounders while striking out five.

Nogowski rewarded Martínez in the bottom of the second inning, launching his second spring home run to give the Cardinals a 1-0 lead. He has strung together quite a spring in his push for a roster spot, batting .423 with a team-leading .571 on-base percentage.

In only his second outfield start this spring, Nogowski finished with two hits and a walk.

Martínez battled the rest of his outing with a one-run lead. He ended his day by striking out Mets All-Star infielder Jeff McNeil, stranding two in one of the Mets’ few chances with runners in scoring position. Martínez stretched out to 89 pitches, allowing only four hits and two walks.

The Cardinals tacked on a few insurance runs in the eighth inning, taking advantage of sloppy play from the Mets. Lane Thomas reached on a fielding error, Edmundo Sosa worked a walk and the Mets dropped an infield fly, allowing both runners to advance into scoring position.

Justin Williams came up with a big late-inning hit for the second straight day. He smoked a two-run, line-drive single up the middle to give the Cardinals a 3-0 lead.

It was a relatively quiet day for the St. Louis offense otherwise. Seven of the nine starters were held hitless and the Cardinals had only three hits until the eighth-inning rally.

Jake Woodford tossed two scoreless innings after Martínez left, while Jordan Hicks wrapped up the game for his first spring save. The Cardinals improved to 8-7-5 in Grapefruit League play.

After three games in Jupiter, the Cardinals head to Port St. Lucie for a Thursday-night game with the Houston Astros. First pitch is set for 5 p.m.