Pete Alonso finally busts out of slump as Mets storm past Cardinals

ST. LOUIS — Pete Alonso sure resembled Pete Alonso on Tuesday, with two big swings that might have signaled he’s back.

After Brandon Nimmo’s mammoth home run tied the game in the fifth inning and hits from Starling Marte and Francisco Lindor followed, Alonso launched a shot to right-center and was soon standing on second base thumping his chest and gesturing toward his teammates in the dugout.

Alonso’s double knocked in the go-ahead runs.

For good measure he smashed a ninth-inning homer, helping the Mets to a 7-5 victory over the Cardinals at Busch Stadium.

Alonso, who entered in a 1-for-30 skid, snapped a hitless streak of 12 at-bats with his double.

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The Mets scored all but one of their runs in that frantic fifth inning in which they sent 11 batters to the plate.

“It was real nice to have a positive impact on the game,” Alonso said after the Mets won their second straight. “It was an amazing team win.”

Alonso’s homer was his ninth of the season and first since he slugged No. 200 in his career on April 27 against the Cardinals.

“It’s always good to see results, but at some point he’s going to come out of it,” manager Carlos Mendoza said. “He’s too good of a hitter, too good of a player for this to keep going. It’s a credit to him, the coaches, they continue to work. When it’s hard he always wants to be there and it’s great to see him have a really good game for us today.”

The Mets (18-18) survived the late innings, as Cole Sulser, Sean Reid-Foley, Jorge Lopez, Reed Garrett and Adam Ottavino combined to allow two runs over four frames behind Jose Butto.

Ottavino surrendered a homer to Lars Nootbaar in the ninth and put the tying runs on base before striking out Paul Goldschmidt and Alec Burleson to end it.

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Lopez had escaped a bases-loaded jam in the seventh by retiring Nolan Arenado before striking out Goldschmidt to preserve the Mets’ two-run lead.

Butto survived a rocky first inning to get the Mets through the fifth. Overall he allowed three earned runs on five hits with three walks and three strikeouts.

“It was a struggle for him, especially with the fastball command,” Mendoza said. “The two-seamer, he couldn’t find it. But he kept making pitches. I thought the secondary stuff kept him in the game. The fact that he went five and kept us in the game, a shout-out to him.”

Butto got pounced upon in the first inning, when the Cardinals sent seven batters to the plate and scored three runs. But he allowed only three base runners over the next four innings.

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Brendan Donovan homered leading off the game for the Cardinals before Nootbaar walked and Willson Contreras hit a drive to left field that deflected off DJ Stewart’s glove for a double. Arenado’s sacrifice fly brought in a run before Burleson delivered an RBI single that placed the Mets in a 3-0 hole.

Butto walked Brandon Crawford to begin the second and allowed a single to Michael Siani before getting three straight outs to escape.

Nimmo unleashed a 440-foot rocket to center field in the fifth for a three-run homer against Miles Mikolas that tied it 3-3. The blast came a night after Nimmo’s seventh-inning homer delivered the Mets’ decisive run.

Jeff McNeil hit a bloop single leading off the fifth on this night before Tomas Nido’s shot off Arenado’s glove went for a single. Nimmo followed with his fifth homer of the season.

A new rally in the inning began with Marte’s double off the left-field fence before Lindor singled. Alonso followed with a two-run double that gave the Mets a 5-3 lead. Martinez’s RBI single — the Mets’ seventh hit of the inning — brought in Alonso. The six runs for the Mets were their most in any inning this season. McNeil’s third hit of the game extended the inning before Nido, the 11th batter in the inning, was retired for the final out.

Sulser surrendered a homer to Burleson in the sixth that brought the Cardinals within 6-4. Alonso’s homer in the ninth provided further breathing room.

“I’m just trying to get back to hitting the ball hard to the big part of the field,” Alonso said. “That is the goal every time so it’s just a matter of when it’s going to happen.”

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