ST. LOUIS (AP) -- With Robin Ventura on the bench, the New York Mets found a new bases-loaded hitter.

Todd Zeile's eighth-inning grand slam, his second homer of the game, helped the New York Mets rally to beat the St. Louis Cardinals 12-8 Saturday night after blowing a five-run lead.

"Wow, that was a big hit, a really big hit," Mets manager Bobby Valentine.

	Mets starter Rick Reed left the game after three innings with a strained left rib cage muscle and could miss his next start.

The Mets won the opener of the series 5-2 behind Ventura's bases-loaded, two-run single. Ventura, who was taken out of the game in a double switch in the sixth inning, has a .364 average with 154 RBI and 14 homers in 129 at-bats with the bases loaded.

New York entered the eighth inning down 8-6, after blowing a 5-0 first-inning lead.

Jon Nunnally walked to lead off the inning and Edgardo Alfonzo reached on third baseman Craig Paquette's second error of the game. Dave Veres (0-2) relieved Heathcliff Slocumb and walked Mike Piazza, loading the bases.

Pinch-hitter Mark Johnson, batting in Ventura's spot, struck out, bringing up Zeile.

"We had the big two-out hit with Robin," Valentine said. "Tonight, if Robin was still in the game, it would have been him with the bases loaded.

"It wasn't, and Todd came up with the bases loaded and got a big grand slam."

Zeile then hit a towering fly that barely cleared the left-field wall. Zeile's homer was New York's only hit in the inning.

"I hit it hard and hit it high," Zeile said. "I turned to look to see if it was going to stay fair. Once I realized it was going to stay fair, I thought it at least had a chance to get deep."

Said Veres: "I knew he hit it pretty good. I got worried when I saw Ray (Lankford) going back. I didn't think it would make it out."

Dennis Cook (4-2) pitched 1 2/3 innings of relief to earn the win. Turk Wendell pitched the eighth inning, striking out Mark McGwire with a runner on first to preserve a 10-8 lead. McGwire is 0-for-8 with six strikeouts in his career against Wendell.

"That's something," Valentine said. "He must not see that pitch."

The Mets added two runs in the ninth, on a RBI single from Piazza and a sacrifice fly from Jay Payton.

John Franco struck out the side in the ninth.

The Mets have won seven of their last nine games and eight of their last 11.

Lankford tied a career high with five RBI for St. Louis. He had a two-run double in the first inning, a two-run homer in the third and a sacrifice fly in the fourth.

Mets starter Rick Reed left the game after three innings with a strained left rib cage muscle. He allowed five runs and seven hits. Valentine said Reed felt something after the first inning, but didn't let anyone know.

"He's usually pretty forthcoming," Valentine said. "I asked a couple times what everybody though it was, and (they said) just location."

Valentine said Reed could miss a start.

Zeile's first homer came in the Mets' five-run first inning. Alfonzo hit an RBI double before Piazza walked and Ventura hit a three-run homer, his 11th.

Zeile homered on Andy Benes' next pitch. He has 12 career multihomer games and eight homers on the season. His last two-homer game came on Sept. 25, 1997, for Los Angeles at Colorado.

Benes allowed more runs that inning than he did in any of his previous 10 starts. His previous high came April 12, when he allowed four runs in five innings of a 7-5 loss to Houston.

St. Louis scored three in the first on Lankford's double and an RBI single by Paquette. Lankford's two-run homer tied the game in the third inning.

After Piazza's 14th homer gave the Mets a 6-5 lead in the fourth, the Cardinals took the lead in the bottom half when reliever Rich Rodriguez allowed the first three batters he faced to reach base.

Pat Mahomes came on with the bases loaded and threw a wild pitch with McGwire up, allowing Fernando Vina to score the tying run.

McGwire's RBI single in the sixth made it 8-6.

Game notes
Alfonzo extended his hitting streak to 12 games. ... Derek Bell broke an 0-for-17 slump with a single leading off the game. ... Zeile was part of the Mets' last back-to-back home run combo, teaming up with Todd Pratt on May 23 against San Diego. ... Lankford holds the record for home runs in Busch Stadium, with 103 in 658 games. McGwire is second with 100 in 203 games. ... In 26 home games this season, the Cardinals have drawn a major league-leading 1,003,121 fans. They are the first team to top the million mark. Saturday's crowd of 48,690 was the team's largest of the season.