New York Mets manager Carlos Mendoza tinkered with his lineup on Monday and it paid off in a big way. The Mets beat the St. Louis Cardinals in a 6-0 shutout at Busch Stadium, and three of those runs came from a Tyrone Taylor bases-clearing double in the fifth inning.
Mendoza started Taylor in the 2-hole for the first time this season and for only the seventh time in his six-season career. As Mets centerfielder Harrison Bader put it, the move worked because the Mets won.
“The game called on Tyrone [Taylor] to step up in that situation,” Bader told reporters after the game. “Mendy looks like a genius in that. I think he picked the right guy for the job in that given situation”
Bader added that a hitter's approach should be the same regardless of where one is in the batting order. Bader should know, having hit everywhere except for leadoff this season alone.
“I’ve been in that 2 hole a couple times this year,” he said. “It’s a dynamic lineup in the sense that you can plug in a lot of guys in different spots. Obviously being in the lineup, situations are presented to you differently but overall your intention is the same, which is execute on whatever you’re seeing in front of you based on whatever the pitcher’s attacking you with.”
Coming off a series against the Angels in which the Mets went 6-35 (.171) with runners in scoring position, Mendoza also dropped slugger Pete Alonso to fifth in the order — his lowest spot since 2020. Similar to Taylor, the move worked for Alonso. He picked up a hit, walk, and run scored in the win.
“That speaks volumes to Tyrone’s game but also speaks volumes to what our lineup as a whole and our capabilities to kind of mix and match if something isn’t right,” Bader added.
Mets OF Harrison Bader's reception in St. Louis ‘means the world' to him
The Mets' game in St. Louis was a one-game stopover to make up for a May 8 rainout. But even the short stay meant something to Bader, who spent the first five-plus years of his career as a Cardinal. The crowd greeted him with a hearty ovation.
“It really does mean the world to me,” Bader said. “Everybody in St. Louis was just so fantastic to me and my family. There’s just so much love in this city. I’ve said it over and over again, I love playing here…Any time I get a chance to step on a big league field it’s special, but to do it in St. Louis with all the history here…it does make me very emotional.”
Bader enjoyed his return at the plate as well, going 2-4 with an RBI and scoring on Taylor's double.
The win puts the Mets at 59-53, pulling them to within a game of the last Wild Card spot in the National League. They also put some distance between themselves and the Cardinals in the playoff hunt.
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