ST. LOUIS, April 29 (UPI) -- The New York Mets continued to play sloppy baseball and continued to pay the price as they lost their third straight game Tuesday night, 13-3, to the St. Louis Cardinals.
The Mets, who committed eight errors on Sunday when they were swept in a doubleheader by the Arizona Diamondbacks, made two more miscues in Tuesday's defeat and lead the major leagues with 30 errors. Relievers Jaime Cerda and Graeme Lloyd did not help matters, surrendering seven runs in the eighth inning.
New York struggled from the outset as Edgar Renteria hit a fly ball to left field in the opening inning that Cliff Floyd got a bad break on. When Floyd tried to make a sliding catch, the ball bounced off his glove and went for an RBI double, capping a four-run rally that proved to be all the offense St. Louis needed.
Mets starter Al Leiter (3-1) was roughed up in the first before Floyd's folly, as Miguel Cairo doubled, Jim Edmonds reached on an infield single and Albert Pujols hit a run-scoring double. After Eduardo Perez struck out, Scott Rolen brought Edmonds and Pujols around with another double.
Leiter, who has pitched at least six innings in all of his starts this season, went just that far, allowing five runs and nine hits.
Matt Morris (2-2) pitched six strong innings, allowing two runs and five hits. He struck out five and walked two and is 2-1 with a 1.80 ERA in his last three starts.
