Vientos hits 1st home run of season and Mets beat Cardinals 4-1

NEW YORK (AP) — Mark Vientos hit his first homer of the season to spark a four-run second inning, and the New York Mets beat the St. Louis Cardinals 4-1 on Thursday night in the opener of a four-game series.

Brett Baty and Francisco Lindor had RBI singles in the second, which ended when Tyrone Taylor scored as Lindor got caught in a rundown between first and second.

Lindor had three hits.

Griffin Canning (2-1), pitching two days after he was scratched from an outing at Minnesota because of illness, allowed one run and three hits in six innings with two walks and eight strikeouts — all over his final 16 batters. He threw 102 pitches, the most by a Mets pitcher this season and his most since a 105-pitch effort for the Los Angeles Angels last Sept. 29.

Edwin Díaz walked Nolan Arenado starting the ninth, then finished a three-hitter by retiring three straight batters for his fourth save.

Brendan Donovan of the Cardinals extended his hitting streak to a 13 games, the longest of his career and the longest active streak in the majors — with an RBI infield single in the third.

Andre Pallante (2-1) allowed four runs and seven hits in six innings, inducing 13 ground-ball outs.

Vientos opened the second by with a drive just fair of the right-field pole for his first home run in a span of 77 at-bats since Sept. 27.

Lindor singled leading off the first and has a leadoff hit in eight of the Mets’ last 13 games.

Mets LHP David Peterson (1-1, 2.70 ERA) and Cardinals RHP Miles Mikolas (0-2, 9.00 ERA) start Friday.

AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/mlb

New York Mets' Brett Baty hits an RBI single during the second inning of a baseball game against the St. Louis Cardinals Thursday, April 17, 2025, in New York. (AP Photo/Frank Franklin II)

New York Mets' Francisco Lindor (12) hits an RBI single during the second inning of a baseball game against the St. Louis Cardinals Thursday, April 17, 2025, in New York. (AP Photo/Frank Franklin II)

New York Mets' Brett Baty (7) runs for a double during the seventh inning of a baseball game against the St. Louis Cardinals Thursday, April 17, 2025, in New York. (AP Photo/Frank Franklin II)

New York Mets' Edwin Díaz pitches during the ninth inning of a baseball game against the St. Louis Cardinals Thursday, April 17, 2025, in New York. (AP Photo/Frank Franklin II)

New York Mets' Griffin Canning pitches during the third inning of a baseball game against the St. Louis Cardinals Thursday, April 17, 2025, in New York. (AP Photo/Frank Franklin II)

St. Louis Cardinals' Nolan Gorman (16) throws out New York Mets' Mark Vientos during the eighth inning of a baseball game Thursday, April 17, 2025, in New York. (AP Photo/Frank Franklin II)

New York Mets' Tyrone Taylor (15) celebrates with teammates Mark Vientos (27), Brandon Nimmo (9) and Luisangel Acuña (2) after a baseball game against the St. Louis Cardinals Thursday, April 17, 2025, in New York. (AP Photo/Frank Franklin II)

SAO PAULO (AP) — The Brazilian Football Confederation will pick a new president shortly before it introduces Real Madrid's Carlo Ancelotti as the new national coach.

CBF vice president Fernando Sarney, who was named by a judge as the caretaker president after Ednaldo Rodrigues was removed from office, announced on Friday that the vote will take place on May 25, the same day as the last round of the Spanish league.

When Rodrigues was in charge, Ancelotti was expected to arrive the next day at the CBF headquarters in Rio de Janeiro to announce his squad for two World Cup qualifiers against Ecuador and Paraguay in June. The coach has confirmed his move to Brazil at the end of La Liga but has not mentioned when he arrives.

The CBF election will also include eight vice president positions.

“The management of the electoral process will be under the responsibility of an independent electoral commission,” Sarney said in a statement.

Rio-based judge Gabriel de Oliveira Zefiro removed Rodrigues from the presidency on Thursday and ordered new elections “as soon as possible.” The embattled soccer executive is appealing to the country’s Supreme Court to keep his position.

Rodrigues announced the signing of Ancelotti as Brazil coach on Monday. He won re-election in March to remain on the job until March 2030.

Zefiro put Sarney, who asked the court to unseat Rodrigues, in charge of organizing new elections. The judge ruled the agreement that validated Rodrigues’ first term was null and void, and that without it Rodrigues should not have been eligible for his second term.

Sarney told TV Globo on Thursday he will not touch Brazil’s deal with Ancelotti.

It is the second time Rodrigues has been removed from office by a court decision. A similar move took place in December 2023 but the removal was reversed by Brazil’s Supreme Court.

Because of that earlier legal dispute, the confederation vice presidents reached an agreement in January to validate Rodrigues’ first term and clear the way for him to run again.

But Zefiro sided with Sarney, who claimed one of the signatories of the deal, the 86-year-old Antonio Carlos Nunes, was not mentally fit to sign the agreement. The court scheduled to hear Nunes on Monday to evaluate his mental state, but the hearing was suspended only hours after Ancelotti was signed.

Rodrigues has made no comment.

AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer

FILE - President of the Football Associated of Brazil Ednaldo Rodrigues, gives a speech after Brazil was chosen to host the 2027 Women's World Cup, at the FIFA Congress in Bangkok, Thailand, May 17, 2024. (AP Photo/Sakchai Lalit, File)