Flushing, NY – Albert Pujols and Max Scherzer have a limited history of facing each other during their All-Star playing careers in the National League so Wednesday night at Citi Field was a highlight matchup as the Cardinals continued their series with the Mets at Citi Field.
The end of the evening resulted in a Mets 11-4 win. Pujols, the nine- time solo Latino Sports NL MVP Award recipient, in this his last trip to New York as an active player, was courting the media prior to the game. He reminisced about the Mets -Cardinals series over the years.
He recalled the Adam Wainwright strikeout that Carlos Beltran got at Shea Stadium in 2006. That was an ending Mets fans will never forget as the Cardinals won the National League pennant and advanced to the World Series.
It was Albert Pujols again making history at Citi Field, a two-run single in the second inning off Scherzer that put him ahead of Eddie Collins for 10th all-time on MLB’s career hit list with 3,314.
“Playing in New York, we knew it was going to be a fun environment, seeing him come through is pretty typical for Albert,” said Cardinals manager Oliver Marmol.
Pujols was not available for his postgame recap, guessing of course that his pre-game talk was more than enough for the moment. He and most of the Cardinals made a quick exit and had an early call for a series finale Thursday afternoon.
Scherzer, though, was scheduled for an early MRI and the Mets are crossing their fingers this is not an oblique injury or something severe that would put their pitching rotation in further turmoil with Jacob deGrom and Tylor Megill on the injured list.
The Mets need Scherzer as much as the Cardinals need the veteran presence of Pujols in their lineup. It has always been Scherzer and tenacity of his strikeouts.It has always been Pujols with the big hit and eventually both will see their names enshrined in the Hall of Fame up in Cooperstown, NY.
But on this Wednesday night, and with the Mets still making a viable statement of being the team to catch in their division, this was a matchup suddenly put to halt when Scherzer left the mound with questions of what was wrong.
Pujois continued to conduct business with a 2-for-4 night and driving in two runs. Two games prior, Pujois continued his bucket list and pitched a finishing inning for the Cardinals in their 15-6 romp over the Giants.
In The Cardinals fourth inning there was another Pujois New York moment. After a single off Scherzer to right-center, he made the rush to second and got the stolen base. You never know, then again this is Albert Pujois who returned to the Cardinals and continues to play like the 21-year old who debuted with the Cardinals in 2001.
Mets-Cardinals
This was the last time Scherzer faced Pujols. Oh, Scherzer won most of the battles, 3-for-14, the final line. The Mets need Scherzer to be healthy. The Cardinals will be in the NL hunt for a division title or wild card and look for more dramatics off the bat of Pujols.
That stolen base got the attention of many at Citi Field. And the attention was about Scherzer and results of an MRI.
Rich Mancuso is a senior Writer @Latinosports.com Twitter@Ring786 Facebook.com/Rich Mancuso
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