Max Scherzer pulled himself from a start Wednesday night with discomfort in his left side before the New York Mets finished off an 11-4 victory over the St. Louis Cardinals. Pete Alonso homered and drove in four runs for the Mets (25-14), who improved to 13-1 following a loss. The only time they dropped consecutive games this season was April 10-11. Jeff McNeil had an early two-run single and Alonso snapped a 2-all tie with an RBI single off rookie reliever Jake Walsh (0-1) in a four-run fifth inning. Dominic Smith knocked in a run with a single during the outburst, and Luis Guillorme drove in another with a nicely executed safety squeeze. Mets batters were hit by pitches three times, increasing their major league-leading total to 28. That includes eight by Cardinals pitchers in six games — the teams got into a bench-clearing melee in St. Louis last month.
Both benches were warned Wednesday night after Mark Canha was hit near the ribs by a 98 mph fastball from Cardinals starter Jordan Hicks in the third, but there was no trouble between the teams. Canha scored three times and followed Brandon Nimmo’s run-scoring triple with an RBI single as the Mets broke open a 6-4 game with a five-run eighth capped by Alonso’s three-run homer off T.J. McFarland. Nolan Arenado hit a two-run homer for the Cardinals. Albert Pujols got two hits to pass Eddie Collins for 10th place on the career list with 3,314, including an early two-run single off Scherzer (5-1). The three-time Cy Young Award winner left with two outs in the sixth and a 1-1 count on Pujols. He will have an MRI on Thursday, the Mets said. With two runners on, Scherzer threw a slider in the dirt and immediately signaled to the New York bench that he was done. Pitching coach Jeremy Hefner, manager Buck Showalter and a trainer came out of the dugout to visit Scherzer on the mound. After a quick discussion, the 37-year-old right-hander walked off the field. Scherzer threw 61 of his 87 pitches for strikes and left with a 6-2 lead against his hometown team. Adam Ottavino was given all the time he needed to warm up, and he struck out Pujols to end the inning. The 42-year-old Pujols, who stole second off Scherzer, also grounded out with the score 6-4 and a runner on against Seth Lugo to end the eighth. UP NEXT: Cardinals RHP Dakota Hudson faces RHP Chris Bassitt in the series finale this afternoon.