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The spotlight frequently found Juan Soto on Thursday, when the most storied offseason signing in franchise history went 0-for-3 with a walk in front of a fan base that has begun to murmur.

But those murmurs never graduated to full-fledged boos, perhaps in part because an under-the-radar winter signing has started to look like a steal.

Needing length and wanting excellence, the Mets received both from Griffin Canning in a homestand-opening 4-1 win over the Cardinals in front of 38,246 at Citi Field.

The Mets bullpen has been taxed heavily all season and was breathing particularly hard after completing what amounted to a bullpen game a night prior. No Mets starter had reached 100 pitches in an outing this year. The group entered play having recorded the sixth-fewest innings among starting staffs in baseball.

Which made Canning’s six-inning, one-run, 102-pitch beauty all the sweeter.

The righty — brought in on a one-year, $4.25 million pact this offseason after five middling seasons with the Angels — has looked reborn in Queens. Through four starts, a pitcher who projected as depth before Sean Manaea and Frankie Montas went down owns a 3.43 ERA.

Thursday, he limited the Cardinals — who entered play having scored the fifth-most runs in MLB — to three hits and two walks while striking out eight.

“Tonight,” Canning said, “is how I want to pitch.”

Both in results and in process. Canning had been a fastball-heavy starter with the Angels, and the most obvious adjustment in swapping teams has been more of a reliance on his slider and changeup.

But the updated scouting report had gotten out on Canning. St. Louis’ Brendan Donovan hit an RBI single in the third inning off a changeup, and Canning and catcher Luis Torrens looked at each other.

“[Donovan] was probably sitting on that,” said Canning, who looked strong after getting scratched with an illness Wednesday, and looked strong after identifying the Cardinals’ adjustment.

He and Torrens regrouped and altered the pitch mix. Canning brought back his fastball, which induced seven swings-and-misses after that pitch had drawn just three whiffs combined in his first three starts. He threw more cutters, particularly to lefties. He mixed in some curveballs.

“Those lefties were 100 percent selling out for changeups,” Canning said after he helped halt a brief, two-game skid for the Mets (12-7). “Felt it pretty early in the game — some of the swings they took on changeups.

“Just constantly being in the game, just pitching.”

He retired the final nine batters he faced, including striking out four straight in the fourth and fifth.

Manager Carlos Mendoza pushed him, allowing him to pitch the sixth, and Canning responded. His final batter, Alec Burleson, hit a chopper that forced Canning to leap, batting down the ball before the 2020 Gold Glove winner flipped to first base and jogged off the field to loud cheers.

“I think the biggest difference and the biggest adjustment [from his Angels days] is how he’s using his arsenal,” Mendoza said.

There were plenty of cheers on a night Mark Vientos drilled his first home run of the season to give the Mets a lead in what became a four-run second inning.

In the frame, Brett Baty dropped an RBI single into left to drive in Starling Marte, and Francisco Lindor’s bat drove in one run and his feet another. His two-run single counted for one RBI, Baty scoring from second base, but Lindor got caught between first and second base, though he lasted long enough in a pickle for Tyrone Taylor to score, too.

“It was a bad play turned into an OK play,” said Lindor, who recorded three hits for a second time this season.

Reed Garrett, A.J. Minter and Edwin Diaz (fourth save) were untouched to finish off a three-hitter that, with a worse pitching performance, could have been defined by a mixed reaction to every at-bat from Soto. The $765 million slugger has gotten off to a relatively slow start (only by his own standards), and recent lineup-protection comments have added some scrutiny.

But Thursday was Canning’s night.

“Every pitch he threw for strikes,” Lindor said of Canning. “When you have every pitch working for you, good things happen.”