Todd Wellemeyer has been as reliable as any Cardinals starting pitcher this season, but he had difficulty finishing off hitters after he got ahead of them in the count Tuesday. He gave up six runs and a career-high 12 hits to the New York Mets in five innings as he absorbed his third loss.
"He's done a great job all year," manager Tony La Russa said. "He usually puts guys away when he gets two strikes on them, and he had trouble today." Wellemeyer said his recently ailing elbow was all right but he had trouble making pitches with his slider.
Brad Thompson, who has yo-yoed between the Cardinals and Class AAA Memphis, worked four strong innings of relief, giving up just one hit.
"That's something positive to take out of this game," La Russa said.
The Cardinals, though still 11 games over .500, have won only four of their last 11 home games.
METS 7, CARDINALS 4: The Cardinals touched up Tony Armas for three runs after two innings as Rick Ankiel hit a two-run homer and Skip Schumaker doubled home a run. But they scored only once in the last seven innings.
