Burleson ends HR drought, Cards take Mets 4-2

Alec Burleson hit his first homer in almost nine months Friday night, a three-run blast that powered the St. Louis Cardinals to a 4-2 win over the New York Mets.

Burleson started Friday for just the fifth time in the Cardinals’ last 15 games. He had seven singles in 18 at-bats between extra-base hits.

Willson Contreras hit a 445-foot homer off the facade along the second deck in left field in the third for the Cardinals.

Miles Mikolas (2-3) gave up two runs in 5 2/3 innings to lower his ERA from 6.49 to 5.91. 

Ryan Helsley, the Cardinals’ fourth pitcher, earned his eighth save with a perfect ninth.

St. Louis’ Nolan Arenado went 0-for-3 but was hit by a pitch in the second to extend his streak of reaching base safely to 24 games, the longest streak in the majors this season and tied for the second-longest such streak of Arenado’s career.




(AP Photo Frank Franklin II)