Taijuan Walker allowed one hit and one run in seven innings to pitch the visiting New York Mets past the St. Louis Cardinals 4-1 Thursday.

Walker (2-1) retired the last 18 batters he faced. He struck out eight and walked nobody as the Mets earned a split of the four-game series.

Trevor May retired the Cardinals in order in the eighth and Edwin Diaz got in and out of trouble in the ninth to earn his fourth save.

The Mets drew 11 walks, including three with the bases loaded. But they kept the game close by leaving 17 runners on base.

Slumping shortstop Francisco Lindor drew three walks and a single to break his 0-for-26 slump.

Cardinals starting pitcher John Gant (2-3) walked six batters and allowed five hits in his 4 1/3 innings, but he escaped with just one earned run allowed.

The Cardinals struck first. Nolan Arenado led off the second inning with a single. Paul DeJong hit a grounder to third and Jonathan Villar's throwing error put runners on the corners. Harrison Bader's sacrifice fly put the Cardinals up 1-0.

The Mets stranded eight runners in the first four innings and left the bases loaded in the third inning.

They finally broke through to take a 2-1 lead in the fifth inning. With one out, Pete Alonso reached on Arenado's throwing error at third base.

Then Gant walked Dominic Smith, Kevin Pillar and Villar to force in the tying run. Kodi Whitley relieved Gant and walked James McCann for another run.

But Whitley struck out Walker and retired Jeff McNeil on a groundout to leave the bases loaded again.

The Mets doubled their lead to 4-1 in the eighth inning. Reliever Tyler Webb walked the first two batters of the inning, then allowed Michael Conforto's broken bat single.

Jake Woodford came in to walk Alonso to force in a run. Smith followed with an RBI single, but once again the Mets left the bases loaded.

Tommy Edman and Dylan Carlson hit one-out singles in the bottom of the ninth, but Diaz slammed the door, retiring Paul Goldschmidt and Arenado.

--Field Level Media