• Recap
• Bleachers

Hernandez pitches the Mets past Cardinals

Apr 4, 2007 - 7:17 AM ST. LOUIS (Ticker) -- Orlando Hernandez and Tom Glavine showed the St. Louis Cardinals their is life after 40 in the major leagues.

Hernandez pitched seven strong innings to lead the New York Mets to a 4-1 victory over the St. Louis Cardinals.

Following a win by fellow 40-year-old Glavine in the season opener on Sunday, "El Duque" yielded just a run and five hits with two walks and no strikeouts. His only blemish was a seventh-inning homer to Scott Rolen.

"I'm happy that I threw seven innings," Hernandez said. "It's a win. This is my job. I try to do a good job every day, every time. I work hard four days for one day."

Hernandez also helped himself at the plate, doubling home two runs in the sixth for a 4-0 lead. It was his first career multi-hit game and doubled his career RBI to four.

"He did it all tonight," Mets manager Willie Randolph said. "Nice pitching, couple of nice hits and he picked off a guy. Nice job. He's a consummate pitcher. When he's hitting his spots like that he's real tough."

Two pitchers worked the eighth before Billy Wagner worked a perfect ninth for the save.

Jose Reyes scored two runs and stole a base for New York.

St. Louis starter Kip Wells pitched well, allowing four runs - two earned - and five hits with four walks and seven strikeouts.

"Tonight there were a few plays here and there didn't go our way," Wells said. "For the most part, I like the way I threw the ball. But there's always things that I'm in control of that I can do better and that's what I'll work on."

The Cardinals have scored two runs in the first two games and now will have to do without ace Chris Carpenter. The righthander will miss Friday's start against Houston with elbow inflammation.

"I came home after the game and my elbow was a little tight," Carpenter said. "Then I woke up in the morning and there was some swelling back there. They're taking precaution to miss that start and put me on medication. They're going to check it out again tomorrow night and see how it is. They say it's nothing serious."