ST. LOUIS -- Mets left-hander Joey Lucchesi was recalled from Triple-A to make Friday’s start against the Cardinals.

He made the case to stay awhile.

Lucchesi, pitching in the Majors for the first time since May 13, threw 5 2/3 scoreless innings as the Mets beat the Cardinals, 7-1. The 30-year-old allowed four hits, walked two and struck out five, and 50 of his 84 pitches were strikes.

“[Catcher Francisco] Alvarez had a great game plan going in, just kind of followed his lead when I was out there, but talked about it beforehand,” Lucchesi said. “And hats off to [José] Quintana for starting off the series strong, and I kind of saw swing and misses the day before, kind of studied how his pitches were affecting the batters and kind of used that today to my advantage.”

Getting off to a fast start was the key.

Lucchesi (2-0) had struggled in the first inning in his five previous starts this season. He entered this game with hitters batting .455 against him and he had a 9.00 ERA in the opening frame this season.

Lucchesi allowed a single and walked a pair to load the bases in the first, but he got out of the jam by striking out Jordan Walker.

He didn’t allow another hit until the fifth inning when Masyn Winn, making his Major League debut, got an infield hit.

“It was just getting back to pitching again after that first inning,” Lucchesi said. “I just told myself, ‘Hey, take a deep breath. It's pitching. I've been doing this my whole life.’”

Lucchesi struck out reigning National League MVP Paul Goldschmidt for the second time to start the sixth before allowing a single to Nolan Arenado and a double to Tyler O’Neill. Phil Bickford was able to clean up the mess by striking out Alec Burleson with the bases loaded.

Mets manager Buck Showalter came away impressed with Lucchesi’s performance. Showalter said no decision has been made yet regarding his immediate future.

“We're talking about different scenarios,” Showalter said. “We talked about it before the game, and the conclusion was just wait and see how things went tonight and gather all the information. But he did his part tonight, that's for sure.”

Winn’s single came with some controversy after Pete Alonso threw the ball into the stands instead of giving it to the rookie, drawing boos from the announced crowd of 42,076 for the rest of the game.

“I feel horrible,” Alonso said. “I feel awful. I didn't mean to. I know it sounds stupid, but it's just a bad brain fart. Throwing the ball in the stands, that robs him of kind of a really special moment, but I feel really bad thinking back on my first hit and just getting the ball thrown back to the dugout. I feel awful. I feel like a piece of crap.”

Winn did get the ball back.

Brandon Nimmo wasted no time giving the Mets the lead, blasting the third pitch of the game by Zack Thompson (2-5) over the center-field wall. It was the fourth time Nimmo started a game by a home run this season and the 11th time in his career. It was also his 18th homer this season, a career high.

Nimmo had three hits to extend his hitting streak to 10 games, tied for the second longest of his career.

“Nimm’s always been a guy who sprays it around,” Showalter said. “When you start talking about leadoff hitters in the game, he's got to be in the conversation.”

Jeff McNeil put the game out of reach.

McNeil singled home Francisco Lindor in the third and belted a three-run homer to cap a five-run seventh. Lindor and Alvarez also drove in runs before McNeil walloped a 92 mph sinker from James Naile over the Cardinals’ bullpen in right-center field.

McNeil has hit safely in 12 of his past 14 games and is hitting .321 with three home runs and 11 RBIs during that span.

“He gives us such flexibility on the team and playing multiple positions,” Showalter said. “He's like a utility guy in the batting order, too. You can hit him anywhere, and he really gives us a lot of options.”

Lindor has also hit safely in 12 of his past 14 games.

The Cardinals didn’t score until they were down to their final out as a Richie Palacios RBI double spoiled the Mets’ bid for their sixth team shutout of the season.