ST. LOUIS — In the hours before his team’s two games against the surging Mets on Sunday, manager Oliver Marmol worried aloud about the cumulative effect of his Cardinals playing two doubleheaders within five days.
As it turns out, doubleheaders have treated the Cardinals quite well in recent days.
Five days removed from sweeping a doubleheader against the Reds in Cincinnati, the Cardinals did the same against the Mets on Sunday at Busch Stadium by gutting out a 6-5 victory in Game 1 and rallying for a 5-4 win in Game 2.
The Cardinals got a two-run homer from Alec Burleson — his first long ball of the season — RBI knocks from Nolan Arenado and Willson Contreras and Victor Scott II’s go-ahead double, powering their second straight win over the Mets after entering the day with a nine-game losing streak to New York.
The Cardinals made the five runs stand up with stellar defensive plays by Scott and Arenado. Scott, the Cardinals’ speedy center fielder, leaped and extended his glove high above the wall to rob a three-run home run from Mets superstar Juan Soto in the fourth inning.
In the eighth, Arenado sprinted to his right and hauled in a foul pop off the bat of Soto before crashing into the netting and landing in the laps of a family holding a small child. Arenado then gifted the ball to the family.
Michael McGreevy, who was up on Saturday from Triple-A Memphis, pitched 5 2/3 innings of scoreless relief to pick up his first MLB win of the season. McGreevy, who walked one and struck out five, improved to 4-0 in five MLB games over the past two seasons.
