ST. LOUIS — Bartolo Colon only gets a hit every nine years, so the Mets might as well enjoy this one.
With the 41-year-old right-hander pulling double duty, pitching eight brilliant innings and delivering an important hit Wednesday, the Mets avoided getting swept three games by the Cardinals with a 3-2 victory at Busch Stadium.
Colon (7-5) allowed one run on four hits over eight innings to win his fifth straight decision. And his double against Lance Lynn leading off the sixth — it was Colon’s first hit in 44 at-bats, dating to June 10, 2005 — set the table for the Mets scoring two runs in the inning. It was the first extra-base hit of Colon’s career.
“If he threw a breaking ball I would have missed it,” Colon said. “But I was just thinking fastball the whole time.”
The Mets needed that contribution on a day they continued their season-long struggle with runners on base. Overall, the Mets had eight hits and left six runners stranded.
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Eric Young Jr. smashed a double to the gap in right-center in the sixth, giving the slow-footed Colon plenty of time to score. Colon had not scored a run since Aug. 9, 2002 with the Expos.
“[Colon] looked pretty tired out there, chugging around getting that double,” Young Jr. said. “But I’m glad I was able to follow suit, and playing behind him was great.”
In an attempt to lighten up the atmosphere, the Mets have started waving rally towels for each hit. Manager Terry Collins indicated he’s spoken to several players about trying to have more fun as the club attempts to navigate through a difficult stretch; the Mets are 4-11 since June 2.
“We do the best we can to keep the clubhouse loose and we try to have some laughs because it’s a long way to go,” Collins said. “I told them today, ‘Let’s make this a starting point. Let’s go win 10 in a row and take our chances and see where we are after that time.’ ”
The Mets (32-40) will open a four-game series Thursday in Miami, where they were swept three games by the Marlins last month.
Jenrry Mejia allowed a run in the ninth Wednesday, before lefty Dana Eveland entered to retire Mark Adams for the final out with the tying run at first.
Young Jr. had extended the Mets’ lead to 3-1 in the seventh with an RBI double against Seth Maness. Wilmer Flores’ single and Colon’s second sacrifice bunt of the game set up the inning.
“[Colon] has been known to ambush once in awhile and that was a big hit for him and obviously that and two sacrifice bunts, that’s a great offensive day for a pitcher,” Collins said. “The other part is we got some hits behind him and gave him a lead and let him cruise.”
Matt Carpenter homered on Colon’s third pitch of the game to give the Cardinals a 1-0 lead. The blast was the 11th allowed by Colon in 92 ²/₃ innings this season.
Colon got double plays to help him sidestep potential trouble in the second and fourth innings. In the second, Yadier Molina singled and was erased by Kolten Wong’s inning-ending double play. In the fourth, Matt Holliday was hit by a pitch before Allen Craig bounced into a double play.
Mejia also got Holliday to hit into a double play in the ninth, after the first two batters had reached base.
After a rough Tuesday performance in which he committed a fielding error and made a questionable throw to third base instead of tagging the runner at second, Daniel Murphy’s woes continued. Murphy was thrown out in the fourth trying to stretch a leadoff single into a double.