ST. LOUIS -- Considering the woeful offensive numbers, it hardly qualified as a feel-good victory. Still, it beat the alternative.
Despite leaving a franchise-record-tying 25 runners on base and going 1-for-26 with runners in scoring position, the New York Mets beat the St. Louis Cardinals, 3-1, in 18 innings on Sunday at Busch Stadium.
"We've had some extra-inning games, but nothing quite like that one," manager Terry Collins said. "I'm real proud of the way they hung in there. I really am. It's hot. They're exhausted. We were out of players, out of pitching. And they just kept battling against a very, very good club."
Ruben Tejada produced a tiebreaking sacrifice fly in the 18th after the Mets loaded the bases with none out against Carlos Martinez.
The Mets had a runner in scoring position in all nine extra innings. After getting retired 1-2-3 in the game's opening inning by Tim Cooney, the Mets put a runner on base in the next 17 innings.
Among the game's quirks:
• Reliever Sean Gilmartin produced a bloop single in his first major league plate appearance.
• Jacob deGrom walked as a pinch hitter.
• Juan Lagares became the first Mets player with 10 at-bats in a game since Keith Hernandez, Ray Knight and Wally Backman had the same at-bat total on July 4, 1985 -- in the infamous 19-inning win at Atlanta that included 4 a.m. fireworks.
"If you're going to play that long, you want to win it. That's for sure," Collins said. "I know that was the feeling on the bench -- that if we're going to be out here, let's win this thing. It was brought up many times during the game."
Collins acknowledged it was not a thing of beauty. On leaving 25 runners on base, which previously had only been done in franchise history in a 25-inning game against the Cardinals in 1974, Collins playfully said: "That's not good. It used to be not good. I don't know what the new standards are. That used to be not a very good stat. Years ago you didn't want to have that happen. We aren't happy about it, I can tell you. And neither are some of the guys who left them on. I've never seen more flying helmets in my life than going down that runway."
Yet despite all of their warts, the Mets (48-44) now head to D.C. only trailing the NL East-leading Washington Nationals by two games. The Mets also are two games back of the Chicago Cubs for the second wild-card slot.
"It's pretty amazing," Collins said. "We came out of the gates and we know we've got a tough road ahead. We're not done yet. We've got three in Washington. And I know they're going to be champing at the bit to have us come in there. And we've got the Dodgers. We get [Clayton] Kershaw and [Zack] Greinke out of the gate. That's something to look forward to."
