Cardinals swept by Mets, maintain struggles on road

NEW YORK, N.Y. (KMIZ)

The Cardinals are still searching for answers to solve their troubles away from Busch Stadium.

St. Louis (9-13) suffered a four-game series sweep to the New York Mets (15-7) with a 7-4 loss at Citi Field, marking the team's ninth loss in its first 10 games on the road.

With Sunday's loss, the Redbirds are allowing 6.8 runs and recording just 3.9 runs per game in contests away from home.

Sonny Gray encountered a shaky start to his latest outing, giving up a leadoff home run to Francisco Lindor in the first inning. However, the team's ace did not let that mistake deter him from posting a quality start, pitching six innings and holding New York to three runs on six hits with six strikeouts.

Offensively, the Cardinals did not make a dent in their 3-0 deficit until the sixth inning. Alec Burleson scored a run with an RBI fielder's choice to put St. Louis on the scoreboard, and then, Thomas Saggese delivered a two-RBI double into left field in the seventh frame to tie the game. Saggese was one of seven different players who contributed to the team's eight-hit effort.

However, the Mets tagged the visitor's bullpen with four unanswered runs during their next two turns at the dish, including a pair on run-scoring doubles in the eighth inning from Tyrone Taylor and Juan Soto. JoJo Romero was charged with the loss for allowing a go-ahead RBI single to Brandon Nimmo in the seventh frame, and Ryan Fernandez allowed three earned runs on three hits in his only inning of work.

Willson Contreras finished the game with a multi-hit effort, going 2-for-4 with a pair of singles. Lars Nootbaar also added an RBI single in the ninth inning.

Up next - The Cardinals will hunt for better results on the road with a trip to Atlanta. First pitch for that three-game series against the Braves is scheduled for Monday, April 21 at 6:15 p.m.