Joey Lucchesi has spent most of the 2023 season as a forgotten man,  but the left-hander is an additional pitcher who is under the Mets’ control for 2024 and capable of getting outs in the major leagues.

Friday night was an opportunity for the team to savor the best of Lucchesi, who pitched strong into the sixth inning in the Mets’ 7-1 victory over the Cardinals at Busch Stadium.

The Mets (57-66) won for the fifth time in six games, continuing their recent success against the NL Central. Facing the Cubs, Pirates and Cardinals over the last week-and-a-half, the Mets have gone 6-2.

Brandon Nimmo homered leading off the game for his 18th of the season, a career best. The Mets extended their lead to 2-0 in the third on Jeff McNeil’s RBI single. 

McNeil’s three-run homer in the seventh broke it open. After the Mets loaded the bases with nobody out and scored a run on Lindor’s RBI fielder’s choice, Alvarez stroked an RBI single that widened the lead to  4-0. McNeil followed with a shot over the right-field fence for his sixth homer of the season.

Carvel welcomes back one of the brand’s original soft-serve flavors with the return of Pistachio this season.

Pistachio can be enjoyed in a variety of Carvel treats including soft serve, scooped ice cream, Flying Saucers and a Pistachio Crunchies Dasher layered with Pistachio soft serve, hot fudge and Carvel’s iconic chocolate Crunchies.

Here’s a closer look at Carvel’s Pistachio lineup:

• Pistachio Scooped: Carvel’s scooped ice cream in a smooth Pistachio flavor.
• Pistachio Soft Serve Cone: Pistachio-flavored soft-serve.
• Pistachio Carvelite: A smooth, lighter taste that blends well with the brand’s low-calorie ice cream.
• Pistachio & Chocolate Crunchies Sundae Dasher: Layers of Pistachio soft-serve, bittersweet fudge and chocolate crunchies. Topped with whipped cream and chocolate crunchies.
• Pistachio Flying Saucer: Pistachio soft-serve sandwiched between two Flying Saucer chocolate wafers.

Rookie Masataka Yoshida hit a three-run homer four batters into the game and drove in four runs, and Brayan Bello pitched six innings Friday night to lead the Boston Red Sox to an 8-3 victory over the skidding New York Yankees, who dropped two games under .500.

The Red Sox took a 4-0 lead 19 pitches in against rookie Jhony Brito (4-6) when Yoshida hit a changeup into the right-center field seats. Yoshida homered after the Yankees were charged with consecutive mound visits to go over signs because the PitchCom device was not working for the Red Sox, meaning the Yankees were unable to use it.

After allowing Judge’s 23rd homer, Garrett Whitlock struck out Giancarlo Stanton to end the eighth. Brennan Bernardino allowed two hits to start the ninth and Chris Martin finished off Boston’s sixth win in seven meetings against the Yankees.

The Yankees avoided being shut out in three straight games for the first time since September 2016 when Anthony Volpe doubled and scored on DJ LeMahieu’s groundout in the third.