ST. LOUIS — A Cardinals pitching staff that showed some stability Monday after getting bruised for 11 runs the day before held tight Tuesday to shut out a star-studded Mets lineup.

Starting with Andre Pallante’s five innings in his season debut, the Cardinals held the Mets scoreless and to three hits in a 3-0 win at Busch Stadium. Behind Pallante, the Cardinals received scoreless innings of relief from Gordon Graceffo, Ryne Stanek and JoJo Romero.

In the ninth, Riley O’Brien shut the door to earn his first save of the season.

The shutout effort from the five pitchers the Cardinals called on preserved a lead that was provided by Ivan Herrera’s two-run double in the third inning off Mets starter Kodai Senga. The Cardinals (3-2) added a run to their lead with Ramon Urias’s homer in the seventh.

In his season debut, Pallante provided the Cardinals with five-plus scoreless innings, marking his longest scoreless start since spinning seven scoreless innings on July 28 last season. He struck out three batters and worked around three hits and three walks in the 88-pitch outing against New York. Pallante worked into the sixth inning but had his outing end after Juan Soto doubled and Bo Bichette walked to begin the frame.

Entering his season debut, Pallante was winless in eight consecutive games dating back to Aug. 3 of last season.

The Cardinals' lineup totaled four hits and drew three walks against Senga but struck out nine times as the Mets right-hander flashed upper-90s mph velocity on his fastball, which was used to complete six of his strikeouts. He got three strikeouts on his forkball.

Of the four hits the Cardinals collected, two came off the bat of rookie second baseman JJ Wetherholt.

Slider helps Pallante get through four

Across the four scoreless innings Pallante tossed to begin his season, the right-hander’s slider proved to be a valuable pitch in his arsenal.

Pallante, whose slider had the second-highest whiff rate (33.9%) of the five pitches he threw in 2025, collected four whiffs on his slider through the first three innings. That pitch was the put-away pitch for his first three strikeouts of the ballgame.

The righty used the slider to get a whiff from Jared Young on an 0-2 count to end the first inning and strand runners on first and second base. He went back to it when he got Marcus Semien in a 1-2 count with one out in the second inning and got the Mets' second baseman to chase it in the dirt for strike three.

After getting Luis Torrens to chase and miss the slider in the dirt for a strikeout to begin the third inning, Pallante used the slider to get Soto and Bichette to ground out for the final two outs. The back-to-back groundouts stranded Francisco Lindor on second base following his one-out walk.

Pallante’s slider, which he flashed 27 times on Tuesday night, was responsible for getting a groundout of Luis Robert Jr. to open the fourth and a forceout of Semien that ended the fourth.

Getting to Senga

To jump to their early lead against Senga, the Cardinals got production from the bottom of their lineup and had the momentum roll when the order flipped over.

Held to one hit and a walk through two innings vs. Senga, No. 9 hitter Victor Scott II sparked the Cardinals' order by reaching base with a double on a line drive to center field misread by Robert.

The leadoff double was followed by a single from Wetherholt four pitches later that allowed Scott to reach third base. Wetherholt reached second base on Robert’s throw to the infield, setting up No. 2 hitter Herrera to hit with multiple runners on.

He didn’t wait long to drive both in.

On the second pitch of his second at-bat vs. Senga, Herrera pulled a slider to left field for a double that scored both Scott and Wetherholt.

Challenging the call

One of two teams across the majors without a hitter challenging a called strike to begin the 2026 season, the Cardinals had their first in the fifth inning. Their second came moments later.

Batting with two outs, Herrera initiated the first Automated Ball-Strike (ABS) Challenge by a Cardinals hitter after taking a 98.6-mph fastball Senga placed high-and-in to begin the at-bat. The original strike call initiated by Herrera’s tap of his helmet prompted a speedy review that showed the fastball was 1.4 inches off the strike zone, allowing the Cardinals to retain the challenge.

After taking a second fastball for a ball, Herrera challenged home plate umpire Hunter Wendelstadt’s called strike on a 2-0 fastball Senga threw high-and-away. The second challenge showed the 98.4-mph fastball was 1.5 inches out of Herrera’s strike zone, getting the Cardinals hitters off to a 2-for-2 start on challenging pitches in the ABS Challenge System era.

Getting out of the jam

Making his season debut after being recalled from Class AAA on Tuesday afternoon, right-hander Graceffo's first task of the 2026 season was to work out of a sixth-inning jam that had runners on first and second base, no outs and the middle of the Mets order due up.

A Gold Glove defender at shortstop helped him escape the leverage spot and preserve the Cardinals’ 2-0 lead.

After Graceffo got Robert to fly out for the first out, the righty benefited from a double play turned by Masyn Winn.

On a line drive Young hit up the middle of the diamond that was on a trajectory for center field, Winn ranged over to snag the ball for the out and fired a throw to first base that beat Bichette’s diving attempt back to first base to complete an inning-ending double play.

Winn’s throw to first base reached 89.8 mph, per Cardinals research.

©2026 STLtoday.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.