• Preview
• Recap
• Bleachers

Castro, Mets clip Cards

Jul 2, 2008 - 5:40 AM ST. LOUIS (Ticker) -- Ramon Castro drove in three runs and Tony Armas was effective enough in his season debut for the New York Mets in a 7-4 victory over the St. Louis Cardinals on Tuesday.

Castro had a two-run double in the fourth inning to forge a 3-3 tie. He capped New York's three-run fifth with an RBI single to give the Mets a 6-3 lead.

"I played good today. He was throwing a lot of fast balls to every hitter," Castro said. "I was hitting eighth and he threw me three sliders. Every time I play more I feel better. I just want to have the team. Every time that they put me out there I'm going to do my best."

The Mets purchased the contract of Armas from Class AAA New Orleans on Monday with plans to start him on Tuesday. Armas (1-0) allowed four runs and eight hits in six innings with a walk and three strikeouts.

"In the beginning I thought it was going to be a wild night," Armas said. "But I was able to get into a little groove and keep the score low. That was the key. You have to give a lot of credit to the offense."

"I thought Armas did a good job," Mets interim manager Jerry Manuel said. "He kept us in the ball game. He gave six innings. Made a few mistakes to some of the lefthanded hitters but he gave us a chance to win."

Billy Wagner pitched a perfect ninth for his 19th save.

David Wright hit his 16th home run of the season and was a triple shy of hitting for the cycle for the Mets, who pounded out 14 hits.

Carlos Delgado went 3-for-3 with two doubles and a run scored and Endy Chavez and Ryan Church each had two hits.

Todd Wellemeyer (7-3) took the loss, allowing six runs and 12 hits in five innings.

""Honestly I felt pretty good out there. They hit a lot of balls that found the holes," Wellemeyer said. "I'll just go out there and try to do the same thing next time. I wasn't following through on my change up. I was cutting it off. I ended up figuring that out but didn't really figure out the slider but I'm going to work on that. Just work on some stuff. I don't want to say it but I could probably use a few more bullpen sessions and get to where I need to be."

Rick Ankiel belted a two-run homer in the first to give St. Louis a quick 2-0 lead, but Wellemeyer was unable to hold it. Ankiel has 16 homers this season, including four in his last seven games.