Cards hold off Mets 7-6 in 11 to move into playoff position

NEW YORK (AP) — Edmundo Sosa hit the go-ahead single in a three-run 11th inning and the hard-charging St. Louis Cardinals climbed all the way back into playoff position Tuesday night with a wild 7-6 victory over the New York Mets.

New York scored twice in the bottom of the 11th and had two runners on when Kwang Hyun Kim retired pinch-hitter Albert Almora Jr. on a grounder for his second career save, ending a back-and-forth game that took 4 hours, 34 minutes.

Pinch-hitter Andrew Knizner added a two-run single in the top half to give the Cardinals needed breathing room as they shook off Javier Báez's tying homer in the ninth.

Tyler O'Neill homered and drove in three runs for the Cardinals. They've won four straight and six of seven to vault into the second NL wild-card slot by a half-game over Cincinnati, which lost 6-5 in Pittsburgh.

It’s the first time the Cardinals have held a postseason spot since they clung to a slim lead in the NL Central on May 30. They began Tuesday night tied in the wild-card standings with San Diego, which started later in San Francisco.

Demoted closer Alex Reyes (8-8) got Francisco Lindor to ground into an inning-ending double play with runners at the corners in the 10th, firing up the Cardinals.

Then they got three singles in the 11th off rookie Jake Reed (0-1), just activated from the injured list.

O'Neill put St. Louis ahead 4-3 with a two-run homer in the eighth against Jeurys Familia, who was booed off the mound.

Báez tied it with a leadoff drive in the ninth, sending the first pitch from Giovanny Gallegos to left field beyond a leaping O’Neill and over the orange home run line on the blue wall.

It was the first time Báez tied a big league game with a homer in the ninth inning or later. He came out of the dugout for a curtain call as...

source https://www.chron.com/sports/article/Cards-hold-off-Mets-7-6-in-11-to-move-into-16459966.php