Pete Alonso, Brandon Nimmo stay hot as Mets offense explodes past Cardinals

ST. LOUIS — The Mets' offense proved once again on Friday night what it can do when it's plugging away at full capacity.

After going 0-for-12 in their last two losses to the Diamondbacks earlier this week, the Mets broke out in a major way against the Cardinals, continuing their dominance over the NL Central foes.

All nine members of the Mets starting lineup collected a hit as they powered past the Cardinals, 9-3, in front of 27,966 fans at Busch Stadium.

"Not trying to do too much, especially when we got behind in counts, just kind of trying to put the ball in play and use the whole field," Carlos Mendoza said. "That's what good hitters do, and we were able to do today."

It was the Mets' fifth straight win over the Cardinals this season, ensuring their run of two losses would not extend. The Mets poured on 17 hits, including five multi-hit games, to improve to 22-11. Brandon Nimmo and Francisco Alvarez supplied three hits in the win.

Pete Alonso carries success over into May

One of the biggest drivers of the Mets' success in the month of April as they went 19-8 to build a 3.5-game edge in the NL East was Pete Alonso.

Alonso slashed .358/.483/.684 with six home runs, 24 RBI, 20 runs and 11 doubles in the first full month of the season to take home NL Player of the Month honors. Alonso was the first Mets player to earn the distinction since Eduardo Escobar in September 2022.

"Honestly just really locked in on my mechanics and pretty much my entire thing is just putting my body in positions and being able to hold that back side and being able to let the ball travel. That's really all it is. Just building efficiency in my swing mechanics. Right now, I feel like I have a great understanding."

The Mets first baseman kept that positive momentum going in the series opener on Friday night.

With the Mets trailing 3-2 in the top of the fifth inning, Alonso belted a go-ahead two-run home run off Cards starter Sonny Gray on knee-high changeup over the heart of the plate. It was Alonso's eighth home run of the season and gave him an NL-best 30 RBI on the season.

"His ability to control the strike zone is probably the best I've seen it over last year and this early on. We know the power is there, we know the power's there and we know he's a good hitter, but he gets in trouble when he starts chasing. I feel like now he's taking his walks and he's getting pitches to hit and he's not missing them."

In the Mets' offensive onslaught, Alonso was 2-for-5 with a run and two RBI, upping his average to .345 through 33 games.

Brandon Nimmo turns in latest big day

The first month of the season was not as kind to Nimmo, who finished April with a .216 batting average and .673 OPS, but he did show encouraging signs during the team's 19-5 blowout of the Nationals on Monday in Washington, D.C.

Nimmo broke out in a major way, matching a Mets franchise record, set by Carlos Delgado, with nine RBI in the victory which salvaged a four-game split. He finished 4-for-6 with two home runs, a double and four runs.

An illness sidelined Nimmo for Tuesday's game and forced him to come off the bench in the next before he returned to the starting lineup on Thursday. On Friday, Nimmo carried over some of his mojo at the plate.

The Mets left fielder finished 3-for-3 with a seventh-inning solo home run that moved the Mets ahead 7-3. He scored three times and drew a pair of walks.

"I think the biggest thing is to not try, to just, 'Hey, start small again,' and get back into game speed, get your strength back and let me see if I can square up some balls," Nimmo said. "Don't try to recreate a nine RBI day. Don't try to recreate a grand slam. Just start small, try to get some base hits, hit the ball hard and work from there."

Clay Holmes holds it together

Entering Friday's game, the Mets starting rotation had put Carlos Mendoza in some certain predicaments over the last week.

A troubling trend persisted across the last six games entering Friday as the Mets saw only one pitcher — Tylor Megill — cover more than five innings. Some of that was circumstantial, with Clay Holmes working through a rain delay and a piggy-back game with Brandon Waddell. The bullpen, already dealing with injuries to A.J. Minter and Danny Young, bore the brunt of that lack of length.

But that made Holmes' six-inning start on Friday all the more valuable.

"We needed that today. We know there's going to be stretches where it's going to be hard, but we also know there's going to be stretches where those guys are going to give us length. Today, Clay did it, and hopefully it will continue that way."

Despite allowing eight hits, Holmes managed to work six quality innings, allowing three earned runs and striking out three. There was some concern in the second inning when Holmes took a line drive off the back of the right leg — the same leg he broke in spring training in 2020 — but he was able to shake it off.

After a four-hit three inning enabled the Cardinals to take a 3-1 lead, Holmes retired eight batters in a row to record an out in the sixth inning for the second time in seven starts.

"I want to be in zone and trust the weak contact and keep pitching to it," Holmes said. "Maybe there's times I could've went for a little more chase with the slider or sinker, but usually when I'm too in zone, I'll take that over the other of walking guys. "

It was Holmes' second quality start of the season as he improved to 4-1 as his ERA inched up to 2.95.

This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: NY Mets: Pete Alonso, Brandon Nimmo power team to win over Cardinals