Carlos Delgado and Carlos Beltran power the Mets past the Cardinals in game four of NLCS 12-5, series now tied 2-2.

The New York Mets used the long ball to even up their series with the St. Louis Cardinals Sunday night. With the score tied 2-2 in the top of the fifth, Carlos Delgado hit a three run opposite field home run to give the Mets the lead.

The first two runs the Mets plated came courtesy of solo shots from David Wright and Carlos Beltran.

The Cardinals were able to cut the Mets lead in the bottom half of the fifth with a homerun from David Eckstein but the wheels fell off the Cardinal bullpen and by the time the Cardinals had a chance to hit in the bottom of the sixth the Mets had added another six runs to extend their lead to 11-3.

Delgado added drove in his fourth and fifth runs of the game with a ground rule double in the sixth.

Despite giving up five runs in 5 2/3 innings, Mets starter Oliver Perez earned the win. Entering the game the Mets were holding their breath with Perez on the mound. The southpaw starter went 3-13 in the regular season and got the nod as a result of injuries in the Mets rotation.

The Cardinals did hit three homeruns off Perez, but the Mets starter only walked one and avoided the big inning.

The same couldn’t be said for Cardinals pitching. Anthony Reyes got the start and pitched four innings giving up two runs on three hits. Reyes ran into trouble with his control walking four and by the end of the fourth inning the Cardinals starter had already thrown 86 pitches.

From that point on it was a disaster for Cardinals fans. They had to watch their bullpen give up 10 runs in five innings of work. Making matters worse they may have helped kick start a Mets offense that had been struggling against the Cardinals.

Having already hit a homerun in the third to start the Mets scoring, Carlos Beltran hit another in the seventh to cap the Mets scoring and produce the final score 12-5.

David Wright hit his first home run of the series for the Mets in the third inning following Beltran’s blast.

Both teams face off Monday night in St. Louis with the Cardinals starting Jeff Weaver and the Mets countering with Tom Glavine. First pitch is scheduled for 8:05 pm EST.