Jose Reyes’s speed keyed a three-run rally in the seventh inning, and the Mets rallied last night to beat the Houston Astros 4-3 for their fourth straight win.

New York was trailing 3-1 against Brandon Backe when David Wright walked to open the seventh. After Backe struck out Chris Woodward, Victor Diaz doubled.

Ex-Met John Franco (0-1) relieved Backe and retired pinch hitter Marlon Anderson on a grounder as Wright scored. Reyes then beat out an infield single, scoring Diaz with the tying run.

Reyes stole second and scored when third baseman Mike Lamb booted Miguel Cairo’s grounder for an error.

Mike Matthews (1-0) pitched a scoreless seventh to earn the win. Mets reliever Roberto Hernandez retired Jeff Bagwell with the tying run at second base to end the eighth. Braden Looper pitched the ninth for his first save.

It was the fourth game in a row that the Mets won with late-inning heroics. They staged eighth-inning comebacks to beat the Braves on Sunday and the Astros on Monday, then earned a 1-0 win in 11 innings against the Astros on Wednesday night. After starting the season 0-5, the Mets will have a chance to reach the .500 mark against the Florida Marlins tonight.

Backe had dominated the Mets until the seventh, limiting them to four hits over six innings, scoring one run, and driving in another.

Backe did almost as much damage with his bat as he did with his arm. With the score tied 1-1 in the second inning, the pitcher tripled into the right field corner and then scored on a sacrifice fly by Adam Everett.

That gave the Astros the lead and Backe padded it in the sixth against Mets starter Victor Zambrano. Willy Taveras walked with one out, stole second and went to third on a throwing error by catcher Mike Piazza. Backe followed with an RBI single.

The Astros took the lead in the first inning. Craig Biggio doubled and moved to third on a single by Bagwell. Zambra no walked Lamb to load the bases. After Jason Lane flied out to short right field, rookie Luke Scott delivered a single, the first of his three hits, scoring Biggio.

The Mets tied it in the bottom of the first on consecutive two-out singles by Carlos Beltran, Piazza, and Doug Mientkiewicz. In the second, Backe’s triple and Everett’s sacrifice fly put the Astros back on top.

Houston loaded the bases with one out in the third on singles by Bagwell and Scott sandwiched around a walk to Lamb. But Zambrano escaped, getting Brad Ausmus and Taveras on grounders to end the rally.

The Mets got the tying run to third base with one out in the fifth when Woodward doubled and moved up on an infield out. But Backe struck out Zambrano and Reyes to strand him.

Then Backe’s RBI single in the sixth upped the lead to 3-1 before the Mets battled from behind in the seventh.

Zambrano, who threw 100 pitches in five innings in his first start, needed 25 to get through the first inning.