Mets Top Cardinals 9-4 on Opening Day

METS 9 - CARDINALS 4

It may have been overcast with a slight chance of showers, but it didn't dampen what was a great day for the Mets in the opener of the 2018 season. The Mets road a 10-strikeout performance by Noah Syndergaard, and a huge day at the plate for Yoenis Cespedes to a 9-4 win over the St. Louis Cardinals at Citi Field. The Mets (1-0) are now 37-20 all time on Opening Day.

While Syndergaard gave up four runs, including home runs to Yadier Molina and Jose Martinez, he was still his awesome self. His fastball topped over 100, his off-speed pitches were in the mid-to-upper 90s. He was solid when he needed to be. The 10 strikeouts Syndergaard recorded made him the first Met since Pedro Martinez to strikeout 10 or more hitters in an Opening Day game. After a tremendous spring training, the outing was a positive first step for a guy making his first regular season start since coming back from a lat injury last September.

Offensively, the Mets took advantage of a wild Carlos Martinez. In the bottom of the first Brandon Nimmo was hit by a pitch and Jay Bruce walked. Asdrubal Cabrera hit a slow roller to first that Cardinals first baseman Jose Martinez air-mailed over the short stop's head, allowing Nimmo to score the first run of the day for New York.

An inning later with the Mets trailing 2-1, Martinez continued to struggle with the strike zone. He walked Kevin Pawlecki and Nimmo, and surrendered a base hit to Amed Rosario. With the bases full and two out, Yoenis Cespedes lined a pitch to shallow left-center to score two runs to give the Mets a 3-2 lead.

It would not be the last time Cespedes would come up big for the Mets. The Mets tattooed Carlos Martinez and the Cardinals bullpen in the bottom of the fifth. Adrian Gonzalez doubled in Todd Fraizer to give the Mets a 4-3 lead. Three batters later, Rosario got two RBIs on a single to left-center, scoring Gonzalez and Pawlecki.

 Cespedes added to his day by slapping another RBI single to plate Rosario to make it 7-3. Jay Bruce finally got into the action with his first RBI base hit of the season to push the lead to five runs.

The Met bullpen was phenominal. Robert Gsellman needed only 14 pitches to strikeout the side in the top of the seventh inning, an impressive showing for a guy who was once a starter. Anthony Swarzak pitched a clean eighth inning, before Jeurys Familia pitched a shutout ninth inning to solidify the victory.

NOTES: Mickey Callaway is now 1-0 as Mets manager. The last Met manager to open his first full season as a manager at 1-0, Jerry Manuel was 1-0 in 2009, however keep in mind Manuel was the Mets interim manager for the second half of 2008.

Before the game, the Mets honored the passing for Rusty Staub, who died due to organ failure the morning of March 29. An emotional Keith Hernandez reflected on the loss of his friend and teammate.