ST. LOUIS — Most of Brandon Nimmo’s first month was about as dreary as the New York weather, but May flowers have arrived.
The Mets were in need of a jolt offensively after flushing a three-run lead Monday night, and Nimmo was there to deliver a haymaker that disappeared into a sea of red.
Nimmo’s seventh-inning home run was the difference for the Mets in their 4-3 victory over the Cardinals at Busch Stadium.
The Mets snapped a three-game losing streak, playing in a ninth straight contest that was decided by two runs or fewer.
Nimmo, who entered with a .919 OPS over his previous 10 games after slumping for much of April, handled the heavy lifting on a night Pete Alonso was on the bench amid a 1-for-28 slump that was extended after he entered the game as a defensive replacement.
Much of Nimmo’s slow start was a product of bad luck — as measured by hard-hit ball rate, barrel percentage and average exit velocity.
But Nimmo also acknowledged he’s implemented tweaks to his swing lately that have helped.
“I have felt like it’s coming around,” Nimmo said. “I still feel like there’s more in the tank I can get better at, but I also believe we have just stayed the course and been trying to make small adjustments along the way and not change too much.”
Nimmo said those small adjustments included the positioning of his elbow and holding the finish in his swing during practice.
“Just the littlest things, where you know in baseball there’s a lot of ebb and flow,” Nimmo said. “You are going to get pitched certain ways by certain people and then that is going to flip … it’s just these little tweaks along the way.”
After two straight letdowns from their bullpen the Mets (17-18) received three innings of scoreless relief from Jake Diekman, Adam Ottavino and Edwin Diaz.
In pitching a perfect ninth, Diaz rebounded from his first blown save of the season a day earlier, when he allowed a game-tying homer at Tampa Bay.
Sean Manaea lasted six innings for his longest start since his Mets debut and allowed three earned runs on six hits with one walk and one strikeout over 89 pitches.
It marked only the second time this season the lefty allowed more than two earned runs in a start.
For Manaea, who began the night averaging 5.5 walks per nine innings, it all started with his control.
“Yeah, that was incredible,” Manaea said. “[One walk] and just attacking guys. I felt really good.”
DJ Stewart’s RBI double in the first inning gave the Mets a 1-0 lead. Francisco Lindor drew a two-out walk against Kyle Gibson before Stewart — starting at first base with Alonso on the bench — delivered for his 16th RBI this season.
Manaea received defensive help with Jeff McNeil’s diving catch in left field in the second inning.
The play looked even better after Brendan Donovan’s ensuing double, but Masyn Winn was retired to end the inning.
The Mets scored twice in the fifth inning on outs to extend their lead to 3-0.
After Lars Nootbaar misplayed Nimmo’s single to put runners on second and third with nobody out, Starling Marte’s ground out brought in the inning’s first run.
Lindor followed with a sacrifice fly.
The rally started with Tomas Nido’s second hit of the game, a leadoff single.
Manaea retired nine straight batters before Winn smacked a two-out double in the fifth.
But Manaea rebounded to retire Nootbaar and preserve the Mets’ three-run lead.
The Cardinals jumped on Manaea in the sixth. Willson Contreras stroked an RBI double and Paul Goldschmidt walked to continue the rally.
Manaea recorded two straight outs before Ivan Herrera delivered a two-run double that tied it 3-3.
Nimmo homered in the seventh to reclaim the lead for the Mets at 4-3.
Nimmo crushed a high breaking ball from Andrew Kittredge, who had allowed only one earned run over his previous 14 appearances.
“[Nimmo] is always going to control the strike zone and even when he’s not going at his best he’s going to give you quality at-bats because of the strike-zone discipline and swing decisions and his on-base is one of his better calling cards,” manager Carlos Mendoza said. “But he can impact the baseball and now that he’s getting results, impacting the ball, going line to line … that is who he is.”
