ST. LOUIS — Though each of Max Scherzer’s last two outings were brilliant, his next start was even better. But baseball games cannot be won by one star pitcher alone. After eight scoreless innings, the Mets offense finally woke up in the ninth and completed an incredible comeback to duplicate Scherzer’s excellent performance.

The Mets were down to their final strike, trailing the Cardinals by two runs, in the top of the ninth inning when pandemonium ensued. The Mets finally got on the board after nine-time Gold Glove winner Nolan Arenado recorded a throwing error. Then Dominic Smith, pinch-hitting for catcher Tomas Nido, came up clutch with a two-run single to first base, sliding head first into the bag as the Mets took the lead.

Brandon Nimmo padded on with a two-run home run to right field and the Mets completed the late comeback for a 5-2 win against the Cardinals on Monday night at Busch Stadium.

Scherzer threw seven shutout innings and struck out 10 in his no-decision. In his fourth start as a Met, Scherzer allowed just two hits and one walk across 101 pitches to St. Louis batters. It was the 106th time in Scherzer’s 15-year career that he struck out 10 or more batters in a game, and the effort lowered his season ERA to 1.80.

The three-time Cy Young winner carried a 3-0 record for the first time in his career into his start Monday, but could not record his fourth straight win in part because the Mets offense struggled to generate any runs while he was on the mound.

Scherzer threw the kitchen sink at the Cardinals, incorporating his fastball, slider, changeup, curveball and cutter to whiff one batter after another. Though the Cardinals lead the National League West, seven batters in their starting lineup entered Monday hitting .250 or worse. Scherzer capitalized on St. Louis’ slow offensive start, holding the opposing lineup to an .083 average in his outing.

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