Baseball

It was Marcum's best start of the season by far, though he wound up taking the loss. He scattered four singles and a double while issuing only one walk and striking out three. The right-hander will carry an 0-4 record, 6.75 ERA and 1.69 WHIP into his next start against the Reds.

Ankiel singled in the top of the second inning and then hit a game-tying two-run homer in the top of the seventh. But the Mets wound up losing their third straight game in St. Louis. Ankiel is 2-for-8 since joining New York.

Niese watched himself in a mirror while he worked on trying to keep his body tall and on a straight line. He also threw more max-effort pitches than usual in his between-starts bullpen session and considered it his best session of the year. The left-hander has allowed 15 runs over his last two starts but will be looking for better results on Thursday in St. Louis.

It's his first since undergoing surgery on his pitching shoulder last September. Byrdak still has a long ways to go, but the Mets are hoping he can rejoin the bullpen sometime in July.

Davis has a brutal .169/.261/.288 batting line and 40 strikeouts in 35 games this season, but the Mets will stick with him and hope that he gets it going soon.

"All good," Wheeler's agent Al Goetz sent in a text message to the Newark Star-Ledger. Wheeler began experiencing some minor soreness in his collarbone earlier this week and was sent to New York City for a precautionary exam. But everything checked out fine. He should return to the Triple-A Las Vegas rotation within the next several days.

Davis is now batting .169/.261/.288 with 40 strikeouts in 35 games this season. The first baseman is a mess.