ST. LOUIS — How low can they go?
The Mets reached a new basement on Tuesday with a 5-2 loss to the Cardinals at Busch Stadium that pushed them a season’s worst nine games below .500, but with this lineup the misery could just be starting.
Daniel Murphy had a particularly brutal night, striking out to kill a rally in the fifth before committing an error in the sixth that led to the Cardinals scoring two unearned runs, sending the Mets toward their 11th loss in 14 games.
“Unfortunately things went through me today and it didn’t look very pretty for me,” Murphy said.
Jon Niese (3-4) went six innings and allowed five runs, three of which were earned, on eight hits and one walk with three strikeouts. The lefty, a borderline All-Star candidate, certainly would have preferred a stronger performance in front of the Cardinals’ Mike Matheny, who will manage the NL All-Star team. Niese entered with a 2.54 ERA that ranked sixth in the NL.
“They have a great lineup and they punish mistakes,” Niese said. “I made too many today.”
Niese isn’t pointing any fingers when it comes to his won-lost record.
“I feel like I’ve been pitching well, just not well enough,” he said. “I have a lot of chances to close out the games and I give up a run to tie the game. I’ve just got to do a better job focusing when we have the lead and just putting up zeroes.”
Murphy’s error in the sixth led to the Cardinals scoring two unearned runs and grabbing a 5-1 lead. Kolten Wong and Peter Bourjos each delivered an RBI single after Murphy dropped Daniel Descalso’s soft line drive.
Murphy had a chance to end the inning with only one run scoring, but instead of tagging out Wong in his attempted steal of second, threw to third because Descalso had faked toward the plate from the bag.
“That was a very poor decision by me,” Murphy said.
Niese survived a rough fifth inning in which the Cardinals scored twice to take a 3-1 lead. Jon Jay’s RBI triple brought in the inning’s first run before Matt Holliday delivered a run-scoring double. Niese plunked Descalso to start the rally.
The Mets bats were quiet in the late innings until Lucas Duda unloaded against Jason Motte for a solo homer in the ninth. Lefty Sam Freeman pitched two perfect innings behind Michael Wacha.
The Mets had a chance to make a dent in the fifth against Wacha, but after Curtis Granderson doubled Eric Young Jr. to third base, Murphy struck out to end the inning, keeping the game at 1-1.
“I don’t think I swung at a single strike the at-bat I struck out,” Murphy said. “[Wacha] threw the ball well to me and I helped him out.”
In the sixth, with the Mets trailing 3-1, neither Anthony Recker nor Ruben Tejada could deliver following David Wright’s leadoff double and Duda’s walk with one out.
“We’re coming up and we’re not getting the hits,” manager Terry Collins said. “We’re popping up or striking out, we’re not even advancing the runners.”
Wacha (5-5) frustrated the Mets over six innings, allowing one run on five hits with seven strikeouts and two walks. The right-hander was sharper than the last time the Mets faced him on April 23, when Wacha struck out 10 over four innings, but also walked a career-high five batters.
Wright’s homer leading off the fourth made it 1-1. The blast was Wright’s first in 72 at-bats and fifth this season. His previous four were hit at Citi Field.
Yadier Molina’s homer leading off the second accounted for the game’s first run. It was Molina’s first career regular-season home run against the Mets. In Game 7 of the 2006 NLCS, he homered in the ninth inning to help sink the Mets.