<p>ST. LOUIS — Nolan Arenado and Harrison Bader homered, Adam Wainwright hung tough and the St. Louis Cardinals beat the New York Mets 6-5 Monday night for their fifth straight win.</p>
<p>Wainwright (1-3), activated from the COVID-19 list to make the start, fell behind 5-2 in the third inning. But he didn’t give up any more runs before leaving with two outs in the sixth, and the bullpen preserved his first win of the season.</p>
<p>Genesis Cabrera and Giovanny Gallegos combined for 2 1/3 innings of scoreless relief. Alex Reyes worked around a pair of walks in the ninth to earn his eighth save — he has not allowed an earned run in 14 1/3 innings this season.</p>
<p>Joey Lucchesi (0-2) allowed six runs on seven hits in 2 2/3 innings after being recalled from the Mets’ alternate training site to make the start. He has not pitched into the fourth inning in any of his three starts this season. </p>
<p>Dominic Smith drove in a run on a groundout and Kevin Pillar hit a two-run homer to put the Mets up in the third.</p>
<p>Arenado answered with a three-run drive in the bottom half to make it 5-all. His fifth home run of the season landed in the left-field bullpen. Paul DeJong and Tyler O’Neill followed with doubles to put St. Louis ahead.</p>
<p>Bader hit a 450-foot home run to the left field bleachers, a solo drive that made it 2-all in the second. He connected a day after hitting his first homer of the season.</p>
<p>Tommy Edman led off the first inning with a triple and scored on Dylan Carlson’s sacrifice fly. </p>
<p>Wainwright hit Tomás Nido in the elbow with the bases loaded to tie it in the second. Two batters later, Jeff McNeil walked to put the Mets up 2-1.</p>
<p>BIG NUMBER</p>
<p>Wainwright reached 1,000 strikeouts at the current Busch Stadium when he fanned Smith in the second inning. Wainwright is the first Cardinals pitcher to have 1,000 strikeouts at a home ballpark and 24th in major league history to accomplish the feat. </p>
<p>STARTERS ACTIVATED </p>
<p>Mets: LHP Daniel Zamora was optioned to the alternate training site to make room for Lucchesi. </p>
<p>Cardinals: OF Austin Dean was optioned to Triple-A Memphis to make room for Wainwright. </p>
<p>TRAINER’S ROOM </p>
<p>Mets: RHP Edwin Díaz said he was feeling better after experiencing back tightness in his outing Sunday night against Philadelphia. </p>
<p>“I went out, I threw, I feel much better,” Díaz said through an interpreter. “I feel like I have more power. I’m able to finish my pitches when I’m throwing so it does look good for tomorrow or the next day.” </p>
<p>Cardinals: C Yadier Molina continues to recover from a strained tendon in his right foot. President of Baseball Operations John Mozeliak said Molina will be re-evaluated in the next few days to determine when he can return to baseball activities. </p>
<p>UP NEXT </p>
<p>The Mets send RHP Jacob deGrom (2-2, 0.51 ERA) to the mound. deGrom’s 59 strikeouts are tied with Nolan Ryan for the most all-time through a pitcher’s first five starts. The Cardinals plan to counter with RHP Johan Oviedo (0-0, 2.79 ERA), who needs to be added to the active roster after having been optioned out on April 28. </p>
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