NEW YORK -- Paul DeJong doesn’t know what it is, but there’s something about facing the Mets that makes the Cardinals shortstop hit.

Entering Sunday, he ranked first in slugging percentage (.788) among all Major Leaguers with 85 plate appearances against the Mets.

He left slugging .807 at Citi Field. His eighth-inning, go-ahead home run gave the Cardinals a 4-3 victory and a series win against the Mets to end a 10-game road trip.

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DeJong now has nine home runs in 20 career games against the Mets and a 1.200 OPS -- the highest OPS all-time vs. the Mets (min. 80 plate appearances). And at Citi Field, he has six home runs in 11 games.

“Nothing in particular that comes to mind [about Citi Field],” DeJong said. “I just feel like I’ve gotten back into my approach this series, hit some balls hard, but didn’t try to do too much.”

DeJong emerged from a protracted slump during the Cardinals’ road trip, especially in New York. He drove in at least one run and scored at least once in all four games.

He punctuated the trip with his 375-foot home run.

“Being more confident as an individual with my approach, understanding what I’m capable of, not forcing it,” DeJong said. “They pitched around me early in the count, so that made me shrink the zone up even more. I got some good counts to hit. They challenged me late, [and] I was ready.”

Before the eighth inning Sunday, the Cardinals had just one hit, on Paul Goldschmidt’s home run in the first inning. They ended the game with three hits compared to the Mets’ 10. Dakota Hudson limited New York to three runs in six innings and pitched himself out of traffic in every frame.

For much of the four-game series against the Mets, the Cardinals’ offense came through in the later innings, taking advantage of the Mets’ bullpen -- 13 of St. Louis’ 25 runs in the series came in the seventh inning or later. Each game saw them come from behind and win or come close -- in Saturday’s 8-7 loss, the Cardinals were one or two steps away from tying the game in the ninth.

The trend is the opposite of what the Cardinals experienced in Chicago at the beginning of the road trip. In three games last weekend, St. Louis either scored early and let the lead slip away or scored too late and not enough.

“Just the way we started the first few games, winning two [Friday] solidified to us that no lead is insurmountable,” DeJong said. “We kept fighting even yesterday to the end. For us, it’s an ‘on to the next’ approach. I’m really happy with how we played this weekend here. Battling to the end with every game.”

Manager Mike Shildt said that the approach stays the same -- players try to focus one at-bat at a time -- but the mindset was different in New York and even in Miami, where the Cardinals took two of three. They finished the road trip 5-5 and head back to St. Louis with a 36-34 record.

“We’re good when we get better as the game goes,” Shildt said. “It’s really something that we take a lot of pride in and focus on. We were able to come back three different times this series, and that’s what it’s about. When you’re down, you compete. In Florida, we had some leads and added on -- getting better as the game goes.

“Our goal is not to play .500 baseball, but you go on a 10-day road trip and end up playing .500 and you appreciate it, especially at the start of it. It speaks to the group.”