Carlos Mendoza was fully prepared to call it a day for his starting pitcher with two outs in the eighth inning on Sunday.
But as the Mets manager approached the mound, with Adam Ottavino warming in the bullpen, he could tell Jose Quintana really wanted a shot at the last out.
A brief conversation later, the left-hander remained in the game to strike out Willson Contreras.
“It was a big decision there,” Mendoza said after the Mets beat the Cardinals 4-2 in 11 innings on Mark Vientos’ walk-off homer. “But with the way he was throwing the ball and I could see it on his face as I was getting closer. I left the dugout and I was pretty sure I was going to go to Adam, but the way he was throwing, the two lefties he got [beforehand] and the conviction in that conversation on the mound … I said, ‘All right, this is your hitter.’ ”
Contreras became the 11th straight batter retired by Quintana since the fifth inning.
Overall, Quintana allowed one earned run on three hits with three strikeouts and one walk over the eight innings, in which he threw 99 pitches.
It was the longest start by a Mets pitcher since July 19 of last season, when Justin Verlander lasted eight innings against the White Sox. The Mets previously hadn’t had a starter pitch into the seventh this season and Quintana hadn’t lasted beyond 5 ²/₃ innings.
“I wanted to keep pitching and get that chance to get that ‘W,’ ” Quintana said, recounting his mound conversation with Mendoza. “I told him that this was my game.”
Quintana was stuck with a no-decision when the Mets squandered a scoring chance in the bottom of the inning that kept it 1-1.
But just the fact he got so deep into the game might have been something of a stunner given that he needed 26 pitches in the first inning.
The Cardinals scored their only run against Quintana in the fifth on a squeeze bunt from Michael Siani.
The rally started with Masyn Winn’s leadoff double.
Siani reached first on Brett Baty’s error on the bunt, but that was the last Cardinals runner on base against Quintana.
“Today the key was to attack the zone early,” Quintana said. “You saw a couple of innings went quickly, so get more contact and get more outs and that’s part of me.”