Pete Alonso, Jose Quintana lead the way as Mets grab series-opener against Cardinals

Pete Alonso continued his stretch of hero ball Thursday night in St. Louis. The slugger hit his third homer in the past three games to lead the way for the Mets to grab a 4-2 victory over the Cardinals.

Alonso’s two-run homer in the fourth inning gave the Amazins the only offense necessary to add to the win column thanks to Jose Quintana’s tremendous performance.

The southpaw tossed six innings allowing being charged two runs — one being a solo shot off the bat of Tyler O’Neill in the seventh. Quintana racked up five strikeouts while walking four.

The veteran gave Buck Showalter much-needed length against his former team being short on options in the bullpen.

Quintana’s counterpart, Adam Wainwright, was also somewhat effective. The right-hander has had an abysmal season entering the night with an 8.78 ERA, however, he kept the Cards in the ballgame. The 41-year-old allowed three runs over six innings of work with just two strikeouts. Thursday was the second time out of Wainwright’s last eight starts that he allowed three runs or less.

Drew Smith came in relief of Quintana tossing a scoreless frame before handing it off to Grant Hartwig for the eighth.

Tim Locastro added a much-needed insurance run in the ninth with a solo homer before Showalter called on Trevor Gott to secure the victory in the first of a four-game set.

Joey Lucchesi will take the ball Friday night against the Cards’ Zack Thompson.

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