Cardinals get a day off after 18-inning marathon. Favorable schedule for the

Jason Heyward matched a career best with five hits, Randal Grichuk had two homers and six RBIs, and John Lackey worked seven strong innings to lead St. Louis.

NOTES: St. Louis RF (cramping) didn’t start Sunday off after leaving the Saturday night game following his fifth hit in the eighth inning.

St. Louis Cardinals’ Jhonny Peralta, left, follows through on an RBI-single as New York Mets catcher Johnny Monell, right, watches during the first inning of a baseball game Saturday, July 18, 2015, in St. Louis.

And win they did, even as their woes at the plate sunk to new depths, reaching a new level of ineptitude.

Even so, New York managed to crawl within two games of Washington for first place in the National League East before it opens a three-game series with the Nationals on Monday night. The Mets and Cardinals had already played one marathon game in 2015.

“Weird stat”, Campbell said.

Cardinals pitcher Carlos Martinez, in his fourth inning of relief, allowed back-to-back singles to begin the 18th inning, then committed a fielding error to load the bases for Ruben Tejada. Eric Campbell and Curtis Granderson then executed a suicide squeeze to tally an insurance run.

The game was scoreless until before both teams scored a run in the 13th. Carlos Martinez (10-4) was pressed into relief and was the Cardinals’ eighth pitcher.

Greinke, who had a season-high 11 strikeouts with one walk, has not allowed a run in his last six starts.

“We’ve had some extra-inning games”, Collins said.

Kolten Wong tied the score when he led off the bottom of the 13th with a home run off Mets closer Jeurys Familia.

Josh Reddick hit a grand slam, highlighting an Oakland display of power that featured five home runs in a 14-1 win over Minnesota.

Earning the victory despite going 1-for-24 with runners in scoring position, one short of a tying the franchise record, the Mets improve to 48-44 after managing just seven total runs this series.

“That wasn’t the Bartolo Colon we’ve known”, manager Terry Collins said. Though they still need to address that issue somehow as Mark Reynolds just isn’t the answer as of right now. In the 17th, he struck out Lucas Duda with the bases loaded to keep the game tied.

The Clinton LumberKings went 1-for-12 with runners in scoring position Sunday in a 4-3 loss against the Beloit Snappers at Pohlman Field in Beloit, Wis. Together, the teams combined to leave 39 men on base.

“This year they’ve been lucky, they’ve been good”, Colon said. “We aren’t happy about that”. “I’ve never seen more flying helmets in my life than going down that runway”, referring to his players lashing out in frustration in the clubhouse.

ROYALS 7, WHITE SOX 6 (13) Lorenzo Cain homered in the 13th inning and visiting Kansas City outlasted Chicago in a game that took almost five hours.

Cardinals: Rookie lefty Tim Cooney (0-0, 4.34) makes his fifth career start seeking his first decision.

This wasn’t the first time these teams endured a scoring drought against each other at Busch Stadium.

Granderson doubled in the 13th and scored on Plawecki’s single off Carlos Villaneuva. The left-hander, considered to be a top candidate to be dealt at the trading deadline, gave up a career-worst nine runs in 3 1/3 innings in his last outing.