Wendell Cruz-USA TODAY Sports

Pete Alonso led the New York Mets’ 11-run offensive explosion against the St. Louis Cardinals on Wednesday at Citi Field.

The Mets’ scored their 11 runs across the first, fifth, and eighth innings, with Alonso contributing to the offense in all three innings.

“Great team offensive win,” said Alonso. “We ran the bases extremely well, and I thought our pitching and defense was great too, so just a huge team win.”

In the first inning, Alonso reached base on a hit by pitch to keep things moving. The call was challenged by the Cardinals as it appeared Jordan Hicks‘ 101 MPH sinker hit the knob of Alonso’s bat rather than his hand. However, the ruling on the field was upheld, making Alonso the first of three Mets to be hit by a pitch in the game.

“Hit by pitch, that’s just extra guys on base,” said Alonso. “It’s the same as a walk and thankfully no one got hurt. Any way we can get on base and create havoc is a good thing.”

Heading into the bottom of the fifth inning, the Mets were tied 2-2 with the Cardinals. Mark Canha walked to lead off the inning and Francisco Lindor reached base after being hit by a pitch. Alonso then gave the Mets the lead by grounding an RBI single off Jake Walsh through the left side of the infield. The Mets went on to score three more times in the inning to make it a 6-2 ballgame.

The Cardinals scored a couple of runs in the top of the eighth to shrink the Mets’ lead to 6-4. However, the Mets responded with a five-run bottom of the eighth, which was capped by a three-run home run off the bat of Alonso.

“We kept throwing good at-bats together,” said Buck Showalter. “We knew they were in a little bit of a bind from the doubleheader, and our guys got it done. They just kept passing the baton. A lot of good at-bats.”

Alonso hit his home run off T.J. McFarland, who threw him an 82.4 MPH changeup straight down the middle of the zone. The off-speed pitch did not fool Alonso in the least, as he crushed it 404 feet at an exit velocity of 107.8 MPH.

Overall on the night, Alonso went 2-for-4 with a home run, hit by pitch, two runs scored, and four RBIs.

With his four runs batted in, Alonso became the sole National League leader in RBIs with 33. He is also tied with Jose Ramirez for the MLB lead in RBIs.

“That feels great. I take pride in driving guys in,” said Alonso.

Alonso is now hitting .264/.339/.486/.826 on the season with 23 runs scored, nine home runs, and 33 RBIs in 39 games.