Mets can't hold on for sweep of Cardinals

The Mets received a fourth straight strong pitching performance from a starter, this time on the form of Dillon Gee's three earned runs during seven innings against St. Louis, and fought back twice from two runs down to tie the score on home runs by Lucas Duda and pinch hitter Scott Hairston.

But a bullpen breakdown yesterday allowed St. Louis to avoid a four-game sweep with a 5-4 win at Citi Field.

After Hairston's two-run blast to left in the seventh, Jon Rauch came on in relief of Gee, who recorded eight strikeouts and gave up six hits. Rauch (3-5) gave up a towering two-run homer to left by Allen Craig for a 5-3 Cardinals lead.

The Mets got a run back in the bottom of the inning on a sacrifice fly from Andres Torres. But David Wright flied out to leave Kirk Nieuwenhuis stranded at third, and Cardinals reliever Jason Motte prevented a third Mets comeback in the ninth. Since Johan Santana's no-hitter on Friday, the Mets had outscored the Cardinals 19-1 in the first three games.