PHILADELPHIA — Playing in Philadelphia is home run derby for the New York Mets.
Neil Walker hit two of the Mets’ six home runs, Logan Verrett tossed six scoreless innings and New York beat the Phillies 11-1 Tuesday night.
Michael Conforto, Yoenis Cespedes, Lucas Duda and Curtis Granderson also went deep to lead the Mets to their third straight win.
"We’ve got a lot of guys who can hit it over the fence," Mets manager Terry Collins said. "There’s no easy guy in that lineup. That’s really tough on the opposition, when they know they’ve got to make quality pitch after quality pitch."
The Mets have 10 homers in hitter-friendly Citizens Bank Park in the past two games. The Phillies have 12 in 15 games this season.
"Incredible at-bats by the whole team," Conforto said. "Hitting is contagious. You get energy in the dugout, see excitement and guys want to join the party."
Verrett (1-0) allowed six hits, striking out four in his second start in place of Jacob deGrom.
Coming off a dazzling, three-hitter in which he struck out 16 Padres, Vince Velasquez (2-1) got roughed up by the Mets. He allowed five runs — two earned — and five hits in 4 1-3 innings.
Velasquez quickly ran into trouble as his scoreless innings streak was snapped at 15. David Wright lined a double with one out in the first and Conforto followed with a drive into the seats in right field on an 0-2 pitch.
A fielding error by first baseman Ryan Howard on Verrett’s grounder to shortstop to start the third proved costly for Velasquez. Two outs later, Conforto singled and Cespedes hit an 0-2 pitch out to left-centre field for his fourth homer and a 5-0 lead.
"He just wasn’t sharp." Phillies manager Pete Mackanin said. "We expect a lot out of him. It wasn’t his best outing."
Walker had a solo shot off Brett Oberholtzer in the sixth. Duda and Walker hit consecutive homers off the lefty in the seventh. Walker already has tied a career high with three homers off left-handers.
"Consistency is the most important thing," Walker said. "Squaring balls up and driving them in the seats is a pretty good sign. I’m real confident now."
Granderson homered off James Russell in the eighth, driving a ball off the new scoreboard in right field just a few feet away from bouncing off his picture.
The Mets have 17 homers in their last five games, all on the road.
WEB GEM
Mets CF Juan Lagares came off the bench and made an outstanding play, leaping in front of the wall to rob Maikel Franco of extra bases and possibly a three-run homer in the eighth.
RUN THIS TOWN
The Mets have won 20 of their last 26 games in Philadelphia, outscoring the Phillies 205-141. They have hit 29 homers in their last 12 games at Citizens Bank Park.
SLUGFEST
The Mets have hit four or more homers in consecutive games for the fifth time in franchise history and for the first time since Sept. 28-29, 2005. The last time the Mets hit six or more homers in a game was Aug. 24, 2015, at Philadelphia when they hit a franchise-record eight.
TRAINER’S ROOM
Mets: DeGrom threw 71 pitches in a simulated game in Florida and is on track to start Sunday at Atlanta. DeGrom missed his one turn in the rotation because of a sore lat muscle on his right side and skipped this start after he was placed on the family medical emergency list Saturday following the birth of son Jaxon, who returned home Monday following a health concern.
Phillies: C Jorge Alfaro, a top prospect in Double-A, was placed on the 7-day disabled list because of a strained right oblique. Alfaro, one of the players acquired from Texas for Cole Hamels, is batting .500 (18 for 36).
UP NEXT
RHP Bartolo Colon (1-1, 2.13) starts for the Mets against RHP Jeremy Hellickson (1-1, 4.30) in the series finale. Colon is 8-5 with a 3.43 ERA vs. Philadelphia. Hellickson is 2-1 with a 7.04 ERA against New York.
