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 Mets teammates in the third-base dugout.
Alonso’s double had knocked in the go-ahead runs.
For good measure he smashed a ninth-inning homer for insurance, 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 17 at-bats with his double.
The Mets scored all but one of their runs in that frantic fifth inning in which they sent 11 batters to the plate.
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.
The Mets can complete a three-game sweep that would even the road trip when they face the Cardinals in Wednesday’s series finale.
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 allowed 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.
Lopez 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.
The right-hander was coming off an appearance against the Cubs in which he allowed one earned run over six innings.
Butto got pounced on 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.
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.
Contreras left the game in the second inning after crumpling to the ground in agony as J.D. Martinez’s swing struck his left arm.
Martinez was awarded first base on catcher’s interference and Contreras was diagnosed with a fractured left arm.
Butto walked Brandon Crawford to begin the second and allowed a single to Michael Siani before getting three straight outs to escape.
Crawford’s diving stop on Alonso’s grounder and flip to second ended the top of the third inning after Lindor had delivered a two-run single.
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.
