Nimmo in lineup night after quad contusion

A night after he was pulled from a game and limped off the field, Brandon Nimmo was back in the Mets’ lineup Wednesday night for an 11-4 win over the Cardinals.

The center fielder, who sustained a bruised quad after fouling a ball off his right leg Tuesday, passed pregame tests on Wednesday that allowed him to not miss any more time.

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Nimmo, who went 1-for-4 with an RBI triple and a walk, was surprised by how well he felt after described the postgame swelling Tuesday as a “third kneecap.”

Shortly after fouling the ball off his leg in the seventh inning of the second game in the Mets’ doubleheader against the Cardinals on Tuesday, Nimmo tried to leg out an infield single. But his usual second gear wasn’t there, and after he was called out at first, he hobbled off the field looking to be in real pain.

“One thing [trainer Brian Chicklo] said last night is that sometimes when you get hit directly on that muscle, it kind of shuts down,” manager Buck Showalter said. “I think that’s why we saw such an awkward run.

“If you’re not sure how that feels, go home tonight, take a hammer and hit it off your quad,” Showalter added.

Asked if he had tried that, Showalter said, “I always want to feel what my players are feeling, but I’m not doing that.”

➤ Starling Marte is expected to return to the Mets from the bereavement list on Thursday, Showalter said. It remains to be seen whether the outfielder, who was mourning the death of his grandmother, will be activated in time for the 1:10 p.m. game Thursday or will wait until Friday and the series opener against the Rockies.

➤ Jeff McNeil continued to swing a hot bat Wednesday, going 2-for-5 with a pair of RBIs. He is now hitting 14-for-36 (.389) with runners in scoring position this month. … Albert Pujols collected a pair of hits off Max Scherzer to take sole possession of 10th place on MLB’s all-time hits list, with 3,314. He also stole a base.