NEW YORK (AP) — Alec Burleson hit his first homer in almost nine months Friday night, a three-run blast that powered the St. Louis Cardinals to a 4-2 win over the New York Mets.

Burleson’s second-inning round-tripper off José Buttó was his first since he homered against the Minnesota Twins last Aug. 3. He entered Friday with two extra-base hits — both doubles — in 51 at-bats.

“You can’t really hit it at them when you hit it over the fence,” Burleson said with a grin. “Being able to go up there with a plan and approach and actually execute it and get rewarded for it is awesome.”

Burleson started Friday for just the fifth time in the Cardinals’ last 15 games. He had seven singles in 18 at-bats between extra-base hits.

“I think it gets you to drop your shoulders a little bit — take a breath that you finally got rewarded,” Cardinals manager Oliver Marmol said. “He’s been taking good swings at people. Some haven’t dropped. And that’s a big swing there that helped us win this ballgame. So let’s build off of that.”