The same swings that carried the Cardinals to a sixth consecutive win and a victory in the first half of Wednesday’s doubleheader turned the nightcap against them and showcased how even with all the tinkering there’s a truism of modern baseball, from box score to arbitration hearing.
The Pauls — Goldschmidt and DeJong — each homered to lift the Cardinals to a 4-1 victory against the Mets in Game 1 at Busch Stadium. The Mets answered with two home runs in Game 2 to split the doubleheader with a 7-2 victory. Both of the Mets’ homers came off rookie Johan Oviedo, who rejoined the rotation Tuesday in time to help the team navigate a crunch of innings that became more acute with Wednesday’s doubleheader.