NEW YORK — Albert Pujols drove in the go-ahead run with two outs in the 13th inning, and the St. Louis Cardinals survived a frantic comeback to beat the New York Mets 8-7 on Wednesday night.
Matt Holliday hit a two-run homer and finished with three RBIs, and Jaime Garcia also drove in two runs for the Cardinals, who scored six times off Mets ace Johan Santana in the first inning only to watch their bullpen let the lead slip away.
The Mets scored four times in the eighth to tie the game, and that’s where it stood when Pedro Feliciano (2-6) plunked Skip Schumaker and walked Felipe Lopez with one out in the 13th. Jon Jay hit into a fielder’s choice, putting runners on the corners, and manager Jerry Manuel elected to pitch to Pujols rather than walk the bases loaded.
His grounder through the left side brought in Schumaker with the go-ahead run.
Mike MacDougal (1-0) worked the 12th inning to earn the win, with Ryan Franklin getting through the 13th for his 19th save.
The game lasted 4 hours, 32 minutes, which was still pretty snappy compared to the last time Santana and Garcia hooked up, on April 17 at Busch Stadium in St. Louis.
The two pitchers dueled over seven scoreless innings, and both were long gone by the time New York finally won 2-1 in 20 innings. That game lasted 6 hours, 53 minutes.
The Cardinals gave themselves a big cushion in the first against Santana, who needed 38 pitches just to survive the frame. The two-time Cy Young winner allowed a career-high 13 hits.
