Felipe Lopez hit a grand slam in the seventh inning to lift the St. Louis Cardinals to a 4-3 victory over the visiting New York Mets on Friday night.

Lopez’s homer off reliever Raul Valdes, who replaced Fernando Nieve (0-1), was one of just two St. Louis hits in the inning and made a winner of Chris Carpenter (2-0).

David Freese’s infield single leading off the frame was the only other hit during the seventh. Scott Schumaker was hit by a pitch and Matt Holliday walked before Lopez’s blast with one out gave St. Louis a 4-1 lead.

Carpenter struck out 10 and allowed just one unearned run and four hits in seven innings in his best outing of the season. Carpenter had given up five homers in his first two starts after allowing just seven all of last season.

New York scored two runs in the top of the ninth off closer Ryan Franklin on an RBI single by Frank Catalanotto and Jose Reyes’ infield groundout, before Franklin retired Luis Castillo on a grounder to end the game.

Mets starter Oliver Perez got a no-decision. He allowed just one run and four hits in 6 1/3 innings.