The New York Mets won the opener of this three-game series 6-5 but took a 9-1 beating on Wednesday. They're 12-2 in their last 14 when their opponent allows two runs or fewer in their previous game, 6-0 in their last six after scoring two runs or fewer in their previous game and 7-1 in their last eight games following a loss.

Noah Syndergaard (2-0, 3.29 ERA) defeated the Cardinals and Carlos Martinez (2-1, 1.42 ERA) on March 29 despite giving up four runs in six innings. Martinez was tagged with five runs (four earned) in 4 1/3 innings and walked six and he gave up five runs on seven hits in five frames against the Mets last year.

Martinez is coming off back-to-back scoreless outings, but both came against Cincinnati, and we can note that he has walked 17 through 31 2/3 innings of work on the season.

The Mets have won each of Syndergaard's five starts on the season, and that's a trend likely to continue here.

8* play on NY Mets.