Mets continue red-hot June with dismantling of Astros to move over .500

Even the second-hottest team in baseball could not cool off the Mets.

Not when Tyrone Taylor, Pete Alonso and Jeff McNeil all smacked home runs.

Not when the beleaguered bullpen picked up pitcher Jose Quintana on an off night.

Not when good-luck charm Grimace hung out in owner Steve Cohen’s suite during the game.

The Mets, who won their fourth straight, improved upon their MLB-best June record and moved above .500 for the first time since May 2 by snapping the Astros’ seven-game winning streak Friday with a 7-2 comeback win at Citi Field.

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“Everybody in this lineup is a tough out right now,” McNeil said. “That’s what makes a good team. Keep taking good at-bats, keep doing what we’re doing and we’ll wind up playing in October.”

Taylor tied the score, 2-2, with a solo shot in the fourth inning before the Mets broke the game open in the sixth.

Alonso hit the go-ahead home run and McNeil provided three insurance runs on his first homer since May 22 — making the Astros pay for a two-out inning-extending error at third base.

The Mets (40-39) improved to 16-6 in June — including 12-2 since Grimace threw out a first pitch and subsequently was adopted as a ballpark favorite by the fan base — while the Astros (40-41) dropped to an American League-best 15-8 this month.

“That’s a good team. It’s not a secret that I’m pretty familiar with [the Astros] the last few years,” said Mets manager Carlos Mendoza, formerly the Yankees bench coach. “We’re just playing good baseball right now. We have really good hitters here that are clicking, that are game-planning really well and … trusting their plan but at the same time making adjustments.”

Once again, the Mets looked worthy of being MLB trade-deadline buyers to make a playoff push, as general manager David Stearns admitted earlier in the day could be a possibility if the team keeps meeting his expectations.

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“It’s a long season,” Quintana said, “but it’s amazing how we turned the page and how we’re playing right now.”

Greeted by a smattering of boos — softer than he hears as public enemy No. 1 at Yankee Stadium — to start the game, Jose Altuve responded by hitting a first-pitch home run.

Altuve, who faced louder boos and taunts aimed at his past sign-stealing scandal as the night progressed, had been 5-for-27 in his career against Quintana.

It foretold a difficult night for Quintana, who needed 93 pitches to record just 12 outs. He minimized the damage to two runs, however, and Adam Ottavino kept an inherited runner from scoring in the fifth.

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The biggest out for the bullpen — operating without closer Edwin Diaz (suspension) and set-up man Drew Smith (likely headed for season-ending Tommy John surgery) — was recorded by Dedniel Nunez.

In his second inning of relief, Nunez loaded the bases on two hits and a walk but rebounded to retire Mauricio Dubon as the potential tying run to end the top of the seventh. In all, four relievers combined to scatter six hits over five scoreless frames.

“Guys are going to have to step up, and they did that,” Mendoza said. “We will continue to give the ball to all of them, we will continue to mix and match … and I like what I’m seeing.”

The home runs by Alonso and McNeil both provided a bit of redemption from earlier struggles and chased Astros starter Ronel Blanco, who no-hit the Blue Jays in April.

Alonso struck out with the bases loaded and no outs in the first inning, kicking the RBI opportunity to Francisco Alvarez, whose sacrifice fly tied the score at 1-1.

McNeil, who was gifted a second-inning single when mic’d-up shortstop Jeremey Pena let a fly ball drop on the infield while talking to the Apple TV+ broadcasters , was promptly picked off and caught in a rundown.

“I think we’re just in a good place,” McNeil said. “This team is good. This team can do some pretty special things.”

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