ST. LOUIS (AP) — The St. Louis Cardinals reminded Jhonny Peralta it was getting close to dinner time. Then he did something about it.

Peralta hit a game-ending homer in the 10th inning, lifting the Cardinals to a 3-2 victory over the Arizona Diamondbacks on Monday.

“A lot of the guys said they were hungry,” Peralta said. “So, it was good to get the win right there.”

Peralta’s leadoff drive on a 1-2 pitch from J.C. Ramirez (1-1) was his fourth career game-winning homer. The Cardinals improved to 4-1 in five extra-inning home games in May, including a sweep against the Pirates at the beginning of the month, and they lead the majors with eight extra-inning games overall.

Peralta’s seventh homer just cleared the wall in left. He was too busy running to notice.

“I think I was on first base already,” he said. “This is the best feeling that you can feel. Home run, win the game — the best.”

Mark Trumbo hit a tying two-run homer in the eighth for Arizona, but the Diamondbacks stranded five the last two innings. The Cardinals wasted two hits to open the ninth when Ramirez struck out Matt Carpenter, Matt Holliday and Matt Adams.

“It’s as tough as you want to make it,” Trumbo said. “I think we fought really hard against a really good team. There was a lot of positives and I think everyone’s actually pretty pumped up about the way we battled.”

Carlos Martinez matched his career high with eight strikeouts in seven innings for St. Louis, which got an RBI apiece from Matt Adams and Jason Heyward. Trevor Rosenthal (1-0) retired Chris Owings and Tuffy Gosewisch with the bases loaded to end the 10th.

“I just tried to make pitches,” Rosenthal said. “I’m never really trying to add or subtract.”

The NL Central leaders are 6-1 against Arizona the last two seasons while holding the Diamondbacks to two or fewer runs five times.

Arizona starter Chase Anderson allowed two runs in six innings. Yasmany Tomas had three singles, giving him 18 hits in a nine-game hitting streak, but the bottom four spots in the order totaled one hit and one walk.

“When they do perform like they did the last series, we score a lot of runs,” manager Chip Hale said. “It’s a work in progress.”

Martinez has four eight-strikeout games and has totaled 13 1/3 scoreless innings his last two outings. He gave up five hits and walked two.

“It’s a shame we couldn’t hold it for him,” manager Mike Matheny said. “He had some of the consistency that we’ve wanted to see.”

St. Louis slugger Matt Holliday singled twice and has reached safely in all 41 games, trailing only former teammate Albert Pujols — who did it in 42 straight to start the 2008 season — for the longest streak in the majors since 2000.

TRAINER’S ROOM

Diamondbacks: Reliever David Hernandez (elbow) was set to make his fourth rehab appearance, and second straight with Double-A Mobile. … Reliever Oliver Perez stayed in after Holliday lined a single off his right ankle in the seventh, but left after walking Adams on four pitches. … Enrique Burgos got a mound visit from Hale and trainers after warmups in the ninth, complaining of undisclosed soreness, and then lasted just two hitters. Hale said Burgos would be re-evaluated.

Cardinals: Leadoff man Jon Jay (left wrist) begins a short rehab stint Tuesday with Class A Peoria. General manager John Mozeliak said Jay could be in the lineup as soon as Friday. … LHP Marco Gonzales might skip a start due to recurring shoulder issues.

UP NEXT

Diamondbacks: Archie Bradley (2-1, 4.00 ERA) is 0-1 with a 10.29 ERA in his last two starts since sustaining a right sinus fracture after being struck in the face by a line drive by Carlos Gonzalez on April 28.

Cardinals: Jaime Garcia (0-1, 2.57 ERA) makes his second start of the season after allowing two runs in seven innings against the Mets.

— Associated Press —

NEW YORK (AP) — Jacob deGrom was simply overpowering. Almost perfect, too.

The reigning NL Rookie of the Year retired his final 23 batters following a first-inning single, and Lucas Duda hit two long homers to nearly the same spot Thursday during the New York Mets’ 5-0 victory over the St. Louis Cardinals.

“I knew I had good command of my pitches — all of them,” said deGrom, who never even went to a three-ball count.

The slender righty struck out 11 over eight dominant innings, shrugging off a tender hip and stiff shoulder that had bothered him recently.

In his latest stingy start at Citi Field, the only blemish was Matt Carpenter’s clean single with one out in the first.

“It happened so early, I mean it’s hard to look back and have any regrets about that,” deGrom said. “I honestly didn’t think about it. I knew I hadn’t been in the stretch in a while so I was just thinking, go right after guys.”

Michael Cuddyer had his first three-hit game of the season and also walked for a perfect day at the plate. John Mayberry Jr. put the slumping Mets lineup on the scoreboard with an RBI single in the fourth.

Besides the single by Carpenter, the lone Cardinals hitter to reach base was Kolten Wong with a two-out single off Jeurys Familia in the ninth. The lack of offense left Jaime Garcia little chance to win his first major league start since last June.

The shaggy-haired deGrom (5-4) posted his fifth double-digit strikeout game and first since Sept. 21 at Atlanta. He is 10-1 with a 1.19 ERA in his past 12 starts at Citi Field, giving him a 1.50 ERA in 16 career home games.

“I knew we were cruising out there, that’s for sure,” rookie catcher Kevin Plawecki said. “I could tell in the bullpen that he was locked in. … He just had it all working.”

Blown out the previous two nights, New York managed a four-game split in a series that matched the top two pitching staffs in the majors.

Duda’s solo shot off Garcia (0-1) in the sixth cleared the shed-like canopy that shelters visiting relievers behind the 380-foot sign on the right-center fence.

The big slugger did it again in the eighth, hammering Randy Choate’s only pitch for a three-run drive that came down on the canopy roof.

“Amazing,” Cuddyer said. “We needed them, that’s for sure.”

Garcia won 13 games in both 2010 and 2011, helping the Cardinals to a World Series title four years ago. But injuries have derailed his promising career, and he had been sidelined since having thoracic outlet surgery last July to alleviate numbness and tingling in his pitching arm and hand.

Making his first big league appearance since June 20, the 28-year-old lefty walked five and flirted with danger all day. But he limited the damage to two runs in seven innings, thanks in large part to four double plays turned behind him.

“I got outs when I needed to get outs, big situations, but unfortunately that wasn’t good enough,” Garcia said. “I’m here. I’m going to compete.”

LEFT ON LEFT

Duda is hitting .409 in 44 at-bats against left-handers this year with four of his five homers and six extra-base hits.

“Essentially just kind of stay short and take what they give you,” he said.

It’s quite a turnaround from last season, when he batted .180 vs. southpaws with two homers and four extra-base hits in 111 at-bats. New York manager Terry Collins thinks Duda’s winter chat with former Mets star and current broadcaster Keith Hernandez has made a difference.

“I’m not taking credit for it. He’s doing it on his own,” Hernandez said.

HOME SWEET HOME

The Mets are 17-6 at Citi Field, matching the best home start in franchise history (1971 and `72).

TRAINER’S ROOM

Cardinals: To make room for Garcia, activated from the 15-day disabled list, St. Louis optioned rookie reliever Sam Tuivailala to Triple-A Memphis.

Mets: Collins said he thought rehabbing relievers Bobby Parnell (Tommy John surgery) and Vic Black (shoulder, neck) might pitch once more in Florida before moving to Double-A Binghamton. … RHP Dillon Gee (groin strain) was scheduled to make another rehab start Thursday night for Class A St. Lucie at Dunedin.

UP NEXT

Cardinals: RHP Lance Lynn (3-3, 2.96 ERA) starts Friday night against RHP Chris Young (3-0, 0.94) in the opener of a three-game interleague series at AL champion Kansas City.

Mets: Following a 4-3 homestand, the Mets play three games in Pittsburgh before returning to Citi Field next week. RHP Noah Syndergaard (1-1, 3.18 ERA) makes his third major league start Friday night, opposing Pirates RHP Gerrit Cole (5-2, 2.40) in a juicy matchup of hard-throwing youngsters with high expectations. “It’ll be exciting,” Syndergaard said.

— Associated Press —

NEW YORK (AP) — Matt Adams hit a long three-run homer, Jason Heyward also connected and the St. Louis Cardinals enjoyed their second consecutive offensive outburst, roughing up Bartolo Colon in a 9-0 rout of the New York Mets on Wednesday night.

Matt Holliday and Kolten Wong both had three hits to back Carlos Martinez (4-2), who pitched 6 1/3 innings of four-hit ball in ending his two-game skid. Following a 10-2 victory Tuesday night, the Cardinals improved the best record in the majors to 27-13.

Pitching four days before his 42nd birthday, Colon (6-3) finally began to show his age.

Trying again to become baseball’s first seven-game winner, he was hit hard all game and even walked two batters — one more than he had all season.

And coupled with Washington’s victory over the New York Yankees, the Mets’ loss dropped them out of first place in the NL East for the first time since April 14.

Colon fell to 4-1 in seven career starts against the Cardinals. That leaves the Arizona Diamondbacks, a team he’s faced only once, as the only club yet to hand him a loss.

Colon caught a break in the first inning when Jhonny Peralta’s two-out drive to center bounced over the wall for a ground-rule double, scoring one run but stopping another runner at third.

His good fortune ran out in the fourth.

Heyward led off with his fourth home run, and Randal Grichuk reached on a throwing error by third baseman Eric Campbell. After an RBI single by Wong, Colon walked Matt Carpenter on a 3-1 pitch.

It was the first free pass issued by the right-hander in 48 2/3 innings, breaking the previous franchise record of 47 2/3 innings by Bret Saberhagen in 1994.

Holliday followed with a run-scoring single, and Adams made it 7-0 when he launched a shot that banged off a potato chip advertisement above the Mets’ bullpen in right-center.

Grichuk had an RBI double and Wong added a run-scoring single in the fifth after a leadoff walk to Heyward.

That closed the book on Colon, charged with nine runs — eight earned — and 11 hits over 4 1/3 innings in his second consecutive poor outing. He had gone seven straight starts without a walk following a free pass to Ryan Zimmerman on opening day in Washington.

Two relievers finished a four-hitter for the Cardinals.

TRAINER’S ROOM

Cardinals: In the four-game series finale Thursday afternoon, Jaime Garcia comes off the DL to make his first major league start since June 20. The 28-year-old lefty had a setback in spring training from thoracic outlet surgery, performed in July 2014 to alleviate numbness and tingling in his pitching arm and hand.

Mets: RHP Dillon Gee (groin strain) is scheduled to make another rehab start Thursday for Class A St. Lucie at Dunedin. If he’s ready to come off the DL after that, the Mets could have a decision to make about whether Gee goes back into the rotation and who might come out.

DOUBLE DEVOTION

At the Major League Baseball owners meeting, Mets chief Fred Wilpon said that when Cardinal Timothy Dolan attended Tuesday night’s game, the team gave him a cap with a Mets logo on one side and a Cardinals logo on the other.

UP NEXT

Cardinals: Garcia threw 90 pitches over six strong innings Friday in a Double-A rehab start and gets a chance to fill the rotation spot that opened when ace Adam Wainwright sustained a season-ending Achilles injury last month.

“If it doesn’t work, next man. Who’s going to take it? That’s what it is right now,” manager Mike Matheny said.

Mets: RHP Jacob deGrom (4-4) is 9-1 with a 1.32 ERA in his past 11 starts at home, dating to last July. The reigning NL Rookie of the Year was 3 for 3 at the plate in his most recent outing, including two hits in a 10-run inning against Milwaukee.

— Associated Press —

NEW YORK (AP) — Randal Grichuk had three extra base hits and drove in three runs a night after striking out five times, Mark Reynolds homered among his three hits and the St. Louis Cardinals teed off on Mets starter Jonathon Niese for a 10-2 victory over New York on Tuesday night.

Michael Wacha (6-0) gave up a two-run homer to Daniel Murphy in seven innings of four-hit ball to join the Mets’ Bartolo Colon and Seattle’s Felix Hernandez for most wins in the majors. The six wins are a career-high for the 23-year-old right-hander.

After his team went 0 for 11 with runners in scoring position in a 2-1, 14-inning loss Monday night, Cardinals manager Matheny loaded his lineup with right-handers to face the lefty Niese, leaving Jason Heyward, Matt Carpenter and Matt Adams on the bench.

The new look order broke out to match the Cardinals’ season high for hits, set on April 28 against Philadelphia — Wacha was the recipient of that largess, too. The NL Central leaders upped the majors best record to 26-13 with their fourth win in 10 games.

Every starter had a hit except for Matt Holliday, who added a sacrifice fly, and the Cardinals went 6 for 14 with runners in scoring position. Wacha contributed a safety squeeze in the second to give St. Loius a 2-0 lead, and he bunted for a single in the six-run sixth, when second baseman Murphy failed to cover first leaving reliever Eric Goeddel with no one to throw to.

In a matchup between two of the NL’s top 10 ERA leaders only Wacha lived up to the billing.

Niese (3-4) had his second straight rough outing. After giving up six runs — four earned — to the Cubs on Thursday, he was off from the first pitch, a single by Peter Bourjos.

Grichuk followed with an RBI double off the wall in left. Grichuk tripled off the glove of center fielder Juan Lagares leading off the third and added a two-run double in the sixth.

The first four batters in the sixth reached on hits, with Kolton Wong’s two-run double chasing Niese.

Mets pinch-hitter Darrell Ceciliani reached on a high chopper that never left the infield for his first major league hit in his first at-bat.

TRAINER’S ROOM

Cardinals: OF Jon Jay (left wrist tendinitis), out since May 10, swung a bat indoors and made some throws on the field.

Mets: Closer Bobby Parnell (Tommy John surgery) pitched 1 1/3 innings in an extended spring game at Port St. Lucie, Florida. He allowed four hits, three runs — two earned — and struck out two. He did not walk a batter. “Certainly the velocity is not where we would like it to be,” Collins said. “I think the biggest issue is his command is not where we would want it to be.”

UP NEXT

Cardinals: Carlos Martinez has not been able to finish the sixth in any of his three starts in May. He’s allowed 16 runs in those starts and is 0-2 this month.

Mets: Bartolo Colon has gone 45 1/3 innings without walking a batter, 2 1/3 innings off Brett Saberhagen’s club record. The right-hander, who turns 42 on Sunday, is 4-0 in six starts against the Cardinals.

— Associated Press —-

NEW YORK (AP) — Pinch-hitter John Mayberry Jr. had an RBI infield hit with one out in the bottom of the 14th inning, lifting the New York Mets to a 2-1 victory over the St. Louis Cardinals on Monday night after blowing another lead for Matt Harvey.

Lucas Duda beat a shifted, drawn-in infield with an opposite field hit for a run-scoring single off John Lackey in the fourth, but Jason Heyward had a sacrifice fly in the ninth off closer Jeurys Familia as the Mets wasted another 1-0 lead for their ace.

The division leaders then struck out a combined 12 times in extras before Sam Tuivailala (0-1) walked Eric Campbell and Duda to open the 14th. Cardinals closer Trevor Rosenthal relived and got Michael Cuddyer to ground into a fielder’s choice. Rosenthal then walked intentionally Daniel Murphy to load the bases.

Mayberry, who entered batting .114, grounded the first pitch off diving drawn-in shortstop Jhonny Peralta’s glove. Campbell slid home ahead of a late throw that stretching catcher Yadier Molina could not reach.

Carlos Torres (2-2) pitched two innings for the NL East-leaders’ third straight win after a five-game skid. The Mets were the last major league team to play extra innings this season.

Heyward doubled with one out in the 14th but reliever Seth Maness had to bat because St. Louis was out of position players. The Central-leading Cardinals didn’t get into New York until after 3 a.m. following their Sunday night game in St. Louis, a 2-1 win.

The Cardinals went 0 for 11 with runners in scoring position.

It was the third consecutive start in which New York gave Harvey one run of support. Harvey outpitched Lackey in a taught duel before giving way to Familia in the ninth.

Familia gave up one out singles to Matt Adams and Molina. Heyward then hit a 245 foot flyball to right field, but Curtis Granderson’s throw was several feet up the third base line and pinch-runner Pete Kozma easily slid home safely. It was Familia’s first blown save in 14 chances.

Harvey gave up six hits and matched a season-high with nine strikeouts in running his scoreless innings streak to 16 and lowering his ERA to 1.98 from 2.31.

Pitching on the same night his beloved New York Rangers were facing the Tampa Bay Lightning in Game 2 of the Eastern Conference Finals, Harvey was not his usual dominant self. But he got out of each jam with timely strikeouts and solid defense — including a diving catch by struggling shortstop Wilmer Flores to start a double play in the fourth.

Lackey, at 36, more crafty than his overpowering opponent who is 10 years his junior, but he was every bit as good. Facing the Mets for just the third time and first since 2008, when he was with the Angels, Lackey stifled New York for seven efficient innings, allowing three hits and a run.

He held the Mets hitless until Granderson doubled leading off the fourth. Granderson advanced to third on Eric Campbell’s grounder to first. The Cardinals brought the infield in and put three fielders on the right side for the left-handed swinging Duda, who slapped an away pitch to the left side of second base for an RBI single. Lackey flailed in frustration as St. Louis fell behind 1-0.

TRAINER’S ROOM

Cardinals: LHP Jaime Garcia (setback from thoracic outlet syndrome) is set to make his first start of season Thursday in the series finale and he had a bullpen session Monday. Manager Mike Matheny didn’t sound too concerned with the results of the `pen. “He’s in,” Matheny said. “He’ll be ready Thursday.”

Mets: C Travis d’Arnaud (broken right pinkie) swung for first time Monday. Manager Terry Collins said d’Arnaud started with dry swings. He’ll build up to facing pitching so he doesn’t hurt his hand. … 3B David Wright (hamstring, back) was cleared for baseball activities. “The big thing now is to see how he wakes up tomorrow,” Collins said of seeing how Wright will feel after his first time on the field.

UP NEXT

Cardinals: St. Louis is 7-0 when RHP Michael Wacha (5-0) starts. In three career starts against New York, Wacha has held the Mets to a .220 batting average.

Mets: Jonathon Niese (3-4) is coming off a difficult outing in which he gave up six runs — four earned — in 6 1/3 innings to the Cubs, boosting his ERA to 2.49. While with Atlanta, Jason Heyward hit .328 (9 for 28) with two homers and eight RBIs against the LHP.

— Associated Press —