St. Louis Cardinals drive past New York Mets

ST. LOUIS -- Rookie shortstop Paul DeJong homered and slugged three doubles in a 4-for-4 outing Saturday as the St. Louis Cardinals notched a 4-1 win over the New York Mets at Busch Stadium.

DeJong opened the scoring in the bottom of the third with his eighth homer, a solo shot to left-center that led off the inning against Zack Wheeler (3-6). After doubling in the fifth, DeJong led off the seventh with a double and scored on an RBI single to right by Stephen Piscotty.

An inning later, DeJong capped the scoring by rifling a 3-2 pitch into the left-field corner for his third double to score Alex Mejia, who pinch-ran for Luke Voit after a leadoff walk.

Yadier Molina knocked in St. Louis' other run in the sixth, ripping a double down the left-field line to score Tommy Pham, who beat out an infield hit and stole second.

Adam Wainwright (10-5) made the lead stand up with the team's first quality start in seven games. Wainwright allowed only one run and five hits in 6 2/3 innings, walking none and fanning seven.

Three relievers picked up the last seven outs for the Cardinals (42-45), with Seung Hwan Oh pitching the ninth to garner his 18th save in 21 chances.

Wheeler, who was making his second start since coming off the 10-day disabled list on July 1, permitted two runs and eight hits over six innings. He walked one and struck out five.

Jay Bruce accounted for New York's lone run with a one-out solo homer to right-center in the seventh. The blast was his 23rd of the season.

The Mets (39-46) put men on first and second later in the seventh on singles by T.J. Rivera and Jose Reyes. But Matt Bowman relieved Wainwright and induced an inning-ending popup from Travis d'Arnaud.

NOTES: New York activated OF Michael Conforto (bruised left hand) from the 10-day disabled list and placed OF Brandon Nimmo on the DL. Nimmo was hospitalized Friday night with a partially collapsed lung and released Saturday morning. ... The Mets signed their first-round draft pick, LHP David Peterson, and assigned him to Brooklyn of the New York-Penn League. They signed 32 of their 40 picks, including their first 13. ... St. Louis LHP Zach Duke (left elbow) pitched a scoreless inning in the fourth game of his rehab assignment Friday night for Triple-A Memphis at Nashville. Duke has yet to be scored upon in four minor league innings.