ST. LOUIS -- It took the Mets 13 innings to score a run, and that still wasn't enough, but with Tuesday's scheduled starter Carlos Martinez working his fourth inning for the Cardinals, New York finally pulled away in the 18th for a 3-1 win at Busch Stadium on Sunday that lasted five-hours and 55 minutes.It was the second game of 14 or more innings between the teams this season and the third Major League game to go 17 or more innings, as the teams combined to strand 39 runners, including 25 by New York.
Seven Cardinals' relievers combined to throw and 12 1/3 innings while six Mets' relievers threw a total of 10 1/3. 
Before it became a battle of bullpens, St. Louis starter Tim Cooney continued his solid July by striking out seven in a career-high 5 2/3 scoreless innings and notching two hits of his own while the rest of the St. Louis lineup struggled against Mets starter Jon Niese.Jon Niese scattered five hits over 7 2/3 scoreless innings, striking out three, walking one and hitting one batter. He's now allowed just three runs over 21 1/3 innings in his past three starts and has a 2.01 ERA over his last seven starts.MOMENTS THAT MATTEREDMets score twice in 18th: Wilmer Flores and Curtis Granderson led off the 18th with back-to-back singles and came around to score. Flores scored the go-ahead run on a sacrifice fly to right field by Ruben Tejada and then Granderson scored on a squeeze bunt by Eric Campbell.Plawecki comes through: The Mets' rookie catcher came up with runners in scoring position in the sixth and eighth, but made the final out of both innings. In the top of the 13th, he came up clutch with an RBI single to right field to score Granderson from second to give the Mets the lead.Double trouble: Kolten Wong came to the plate in the 13th inning 0-for-5 on the day with the Cardinals trailing 1-0. With one swing he did what his team couldn't do in the 12 innings prior, score. His lead-off home run to right field tied the game at one and gave the Cardinals life.Mets' missed opportunities: The Mets were 1-for-26 with runners in scoring position and left 25 runners stranded on base. They would have a runner in scoring position in each of the extra innings, including loading the bases in the 13th after plating the go-ahead run, and failed to score again until the 18th, in which they scored twice without driving in either run with a hit.UNDER REVIEWIt took just 44 seconds to overturn a seventh-inning call that, if it had stood, would have resulted in the Cardinals having speedster Tommy Pham on first with nobody out. However, it was ruled that Mets first baseman Lucas Duda applied a tag to Pham before he reached the bag.In the 18th inning, the Cardinals challenged a safe call at first on the squeeze play by Campbell. After the review, the call was overturned and Wong, who was covering first on the bunt, was ruled to have kept his foot on the bag with the ball in his glove before Campbell reached first.Nate Latsch/MLB.com
Before it became a battle of bullpens, St. Louis starter Tim Cooney continued his solid July by striking out seven in a career-high 5 2/3 scoreless innings and notching two hits of his own while the rest of the St. Louis lineup struggled against Mets starter Jon Niese.Jon Niese scattered five hits over 7 2/3 scoreless innings, striking out three, walking one and hitting one batter. He's now allowed just three runs over 21 1/3 innings in his past three starts and has a 2.01 ERA over his last seven starts.MOMENTS THAT MATTEREDMets score twice in 18th: Wilmer Flores and Curtis Granderson led off the 18th with back-to-back singles and came around to score. Flores scored the go-ahead run on a sacrifice fly to right field by Ruben Tejada and then Granderson scored on a squeeze bunt by Eric Campbell.Plawecki comes through: The Mets' rookie catcher came up with runners in scoring position in the sixth and eighth, but made the final out of both innings. In the top of the 13th, he came up clutch with an RBI single to right field to score Granderson from second to give the Mets the lead.Double trouble: Kolten Wong came to the plate in the 13th inning 0-for-5 on the day with the Cardinals trailing 1-0. With one swing he did what his team couldn't do in the 12 innings prior, score. His lead-off home run to right field tied the game at one and gave the Cardinals life.Mets' missed opportunities: The Mets were 1-for-26 with runners in scoring position and left 25 runners stranded on base. They would have a runner in scoring position in each of the extra innings, including loading the bases in the 13th after plating the go-ahead run, and failed to score again until the 18th, in which they scored twice without driving in either run with a hit.UNDER REVIEWIt took just 44 seconds to overturn a seventh-inning call that, if it had stood, would have resulted in the Cardinals having speedster Tommy Pham on first with nobody out. However, it was ruled that Mets first baseman Lucas Duda applied a tag to Pham before he reached the bag.In the 18th inning, the Cardinals challenged a safe call at first on the squeeze play by Campbell. After the review, the call was overturned and Wong, who was covering first on the bunt, was ruled to have kept his foot on the bag with the ball in his glove before Campbell reached first.Nate Latsch/MLB.com
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