Mets 5, Cardinals 2: Jon Niese bounced back with 7 1/3 strong innings and David Wright drove in a pair as visiting New York avoided a four-game sweep at St. Louis.

Daniel Murphy went 4-for-4 with an RBI and two runs scored and Lucas Duda drove in a run for the Mets, who snapped a six-game slide. Niese (3-4), who had allowed 15 runs in 8 1/3 innings over his previous two turns, allowed two runs and six hits in his longest outing of the season.

Adam Wainwright (5-3) struck out eight in six frames for the Cardinals but had his scoreless innings streak come to an end at 11 2/3 in the third when New York pushed across a pair to take the lead. Wainwright was charged with four runs (three earned) and six hits in six innings.

Pete Kozma gave St. Louis a 1-0 lead in the second when his shallow fly to center dropped just in front of Rick Ankiel’s dive. Murphy ripped a two-out RBI double into the right-field corner to plate the tying run in the third and Wright followed with a bloop to right to give New York the lead.

Murphy and Wright hooked up again with back-to-back doubles in the sixth to make it a two-run gap and Duda brought Wright home with a sacrifice fly two batters later. The Cardinals threatened in the eighth but only managed one run, and Bobby Parnell worked a scoreless ninth to lock up his fourth save for the Mets.

GAME NOTEBOOK: Murphy went 10-for-16 in the series and had an odd hit in the sixth when his double to right went through a gap in the wall on the fly. His four-hit game was his second of the season. … St. Louis has not swept a series of four or more games from New York since 1982. … Former Met Carlos Beltran went 3-for-4 - his second three-hit game of the series.