NEW YORK (AP) — The only thing Jenrry Mejia popped Monday night was his fastball.

Showing off a sizzling heater with wicked movement, Mejia pitched four-hit ball into the seventh inning and led the New York Mets over the St. Louis Cardinals 2-0.

Mejia (3-0) bounced back well from a torn blister on his right middle finger that limited him to five innings in his last start. The 24-year-old righty began the game by getting Matt Carpenter to look at three straight strikes, and rarely was in trouble.

“Coming off the blister … we weren’t sure what he was going to give us,” Mets manager Terry Collins said. “He gave us more than we expected, for sure.”

David Wright lined an early RBI single that extended his hitting streak to 12 games and Kyle Farnsworth earned his first save as the New York’s newest closer.

On an evening when the Mets debuted new camouflage tops to salute the military, they looked sharp, particularly on a double play started by shortstop Ruben Tejada.

The Cardinals lost for the third time in four games.

“Their shortstop kind of stopped any kind of rally from happening,” Cardinals manager Mike Matheny said.

“Being frustrated, I don’t think there’s anything wrong with that,” he said after the NL champions were shut out for the third time this year. “I think the bigger story is that our offense will get going on a consistent basis.”

Mejia struck out seven in 6 2/3 innings and walked three. He stretched his scoreless streak to 13 2/3 innings.

Mejia said the blister was hardly a concern. The St. Louis hitters were the ones having trouble, not him.

“They know my fastball moves,” he said.

Scott Rice and Carlos Torres each got two outs before Farnsworth, the Mets’ third closer this year, pitched the ninth for his first save.

Farnsworth inherited the role after Bobby Parnell needed Tommy John surgery and Jose Valverde struggled. Farnsworth had two saves last season for Pittsburgh.

Tyler Lyons (0-1) lost in his first major league game of the season. Promoted from Triple-A Memphis earlier in the day to take the rotation spot of injured Joe Kelly, he allowed two runs and six hits in six innings.

A 26-year-old lefty with a big-breaking slider, Lyons struck out seven. He’s another in the long line of tall, homegrown pitchers developed by the Cardinals, and went 2-4 last year in his first big league season.

Lyons struck out the first two batters in the third before Eric Young Jr. singled for the Mets’ first hit. Slumping Curtis Granderson was hit by a pitch and Wright singled for a 1-0 lead.

Lyons’ throwing error on a tapper set up another run in the sixth. Daniel Murphy walked, later stole third and scored on a single by Travis d’Arnaud.

Mejia escaped his biggest jam in the sixth when, with runners at the corners and one out, he retired Matt Holliday on a popup and Matt Adams on a grounder.

The previous inning, the Mets backed Mejia with a sweet double play. Tejada dived to stop Jon Jay’s grounder up the middle and flipped to Murphy, and the second baseman made a barehanded catch and spun quickly for the relay.

“Tremendous double play,” Collins praised.

— Associated Press —

WASHINGTON (AP) — Denard Span’s approach with the bases loaded in the bottom of the ninth inning proves math pays off.

Facing a five-man infield, Span hit a sacrifice fly in the ninth and the Washington Nationals, with Bryce Harper back in the lineup and stealing his first base of the season, rallied past the St. Louis Cardinals 3-2 Sunday.

The Nationals loaded the bases against Seth Maness (0-1) when Danny Espinosa singled through third baseman Matt Carpenter’s legs with one out for his third hit, Jose Lobaton singled through the right side of the infield and pinch hitter Nate McLouth walked.

In his second game since being activated from the seven-day disabled list following a concussion, Span lofted a fly to left field. Espinosa easily beat the throw from Jon Jay, who shifted over from right field as St. Louis brought in an extra infielder.

“I counted: one, two, three, four, five,” Span said. “Right there I told myself a groundball probably not going to do it. Try to get the ball in the air somehow.”

After Espinosa crossed home, the Nationals mobbed Span, who suddenly had something else on his mind.

“I was screaming so loud, so into the moment, but at the same time I’m thinking don’t hit me upside the head too hard because I just came off the DL,” said the smiling center fielder, who grounded out with the bases full in the sixth before delivering the game-winner.

The Nationals split the four-game series. They had lost eight of the previous nine meetings with the Cardinals going into the series wrap-up.

“That’s a play I’m expecting to make and a play that I expect myself to make and I didn’t make it,” Carpenter said of his ninth-inning whiff. “It ended up costing us.”

Harper started in left field and went 1 for 4. The two-time All-Star was pulled from the game a day earlier for what manager Matt Williams called a “lack of hustle” after he failed to run out a comebacker to the mound.

The two spoke before Sunday’s game.

“I sat with him for a couple of minutes in his locker and told him I’m confident in him and I’m proud of him and he was going to have impact today, which he did,” Williams said.

Harper had a somewhat different take on the conversation with Williams, as far as length goes.

“He just said, ‘Go get ’em.’ That’s the three words he said,” Harper said. “It’s good to get back out there and play and be part of a win.”

Harper was left stranded at second base as the possible go-ahead run as Anthony Rendon struck out against Pat Neshek in the eighth.

Rafael Soriano (1-0) pitched one inning for the win.

The Cardinals took an early edge against Stephen Strasburg and led 2-0 going into the seventh.

Washington tied the game with four straight singles off reliever Carlos Martinez, including RBI hits from Ian Desmond and Espinosa.

Strasburg struck out nine in six innings.

Shelby Miller left with the lead after pitching 5 1/3 innings for the Cardinals. He also hit a two-out, RBI double off Strasburg in the fourth.

St. Louis starting pitchers recorded an RBI in three of the four games versus Washington. Miller allowed four hits, striking out seven and walking five.

Matt Adams doubled twice and scored for the Cardinals.

“I was pretty happy we were able to put a couple together and obviously a big hit by Shelby,” manager Mike Matheny said. “That gives you a little bit of room and then we get the ball into the hands of guys we like to give the ball to. Good offenses are going to put together tough at-bats on tough pitching, and today they got us.”

True, though it took some doing. Washington left 17 runners on base and went 2 of 12 with runners in scoring position.

“Talk about those opportunities and giving ourselves that multiple times in the game, you like your chances, certainly,” Williams said. “Especially against a good team like that we want to create those. I don’t know how many guys we had on base today but it felt like a lot.”

— Associated Press —

WASHINGTON (AP) — Lance Lynn was sharper than he had had been all season, which made it all the more frustrating for him when he failed to make it out of the sixth inning.

Bryce Harper didn’t get past the sixth inning either, but for a completely different reason.

Lynn won his fourth straight start and delivered an RBI double after yet another error by Washington, and the St. Louis Cardinals scored three unearned runs to beat Jordan Zimmermann and the Nationals 4-3 Saturday.

Lynn (4-0) gave up one run and five hits over 5 2/3 innings in becoming the NL’s first four-game winner. After the right-hander lost his control in the sixth, Kevin Siegrist retired Danny Espinosa on a two-out fly ball with the bases loaded.

“I’m not going to lie to you, my stuff was better today than it’s been all year,” Lynn said. “That’s the disappointing thing about the way the game finished for me today.”

Harper, meanwhile, was pulled after Nationals first-year manager Matt Williams questioned the manner in which the young outfielder ran out a comebacker leading off the sixth.

“Lack of hustle. That’s why he came out of the game,” Williams said. “He and I made an agreement, this team made an agreement, that when we play the game, that we hustle at all times.”

Now in his third season, the 21-year-old Harper is one of Washington’s brightest stars. The two-time All-Star once ran into a wall in the relentless pursuit of a fly ball, but on this day Harper was left explaining an act of nonchalance.

“I respect what he did,” Harper said of Williams’ decision. “That’s part of the game.”

Tony Cruz drove in two runs for the Cardinals, who have won nine of the last 10 games between the teams.

St. Louis took control with a three-run second inning fueled by third baseman Anthony Rendon’s throwing error, capped by Lynn’s first career extra-base hit. The Nationals, under former Gold Glove third baseman Williams, are averaging more than an error per game and lead the majors in miscues.

“I feel like we made a mistake, a couple of minor mistakes that cost us, but we were in the game,” Williams said.

Trevor Rosenthal worked the ninth for his fifth save, but not without difficulty. Washington put runners on second and third with one out, and Kevin Frandsen drove in a run with a groundout before Rosenthal struck out Jayson Werth on three pitches.

Frandsen was batting in Harper’s spot in the lineup.

“Kevin Frandsen put on a nice ‘AB’ against Rosenthal,” Williams said, “but (Harper’s) spot came up with the ability to win the game. And that’s a shame for his teammates.”

Said Harper: “Man, that’s tough to watch, not being able to be up there in that situation. It’s something that I thrive on and I want to be in. You know, it’s in the past and there’s nothing we can do about it now.”

Williams said Harper would start Sunday in the series finale.

Espinosa homered for the Nationals, but he was the only player to get past first base against Lynn until the sixth.

Zimmermann (1-1) allowed four runs, only one of them earned, in seven innings. He struck out six and walked two after coming in with a 0-3 with an 8.27 ERA in six career games against the Cardinals.

Zimmermann took the loss but probably deserved a better fate. The right-hander has beaten every NL team except St. Louis and Pittsburgh (one start).

St. Louis bolted in front for good in the second inning. After Rendon threw wide on a potential force play at second, Cruz sliced a two-out, two-run single to right field and scored on a double by Lynn. It was the pitcher’s first extra-base hit in 115 career at-bats and his fourth RBI.

“I was trying to hold it to a single,” Lynn joked. “I don’t like to run.”

The tainted inning extended a series trend that began Thursday night, when the Nationals made three errors, and continued Friday when Washington scored two unearned runs in a 3-1 win.

Espinosa led off the fifth with his first home run since last May 5.

In the Washington sixth, Werth singled and Adam LaRoche walked before Rendon looked at a third strike after getting ahead in the count 3-0. Lynn then walked Ian Desmond on four pitches before Siegrist retired Espinosa.

Matt Holliday delivered a two-out RBI single for St. Louis in the seventh, and successive doubles by LaRoche and Rendon got Washington to 4-2 in the eighth.

— Associated Press —