PHILADELPHIA — David Wright homered twice for his first two RBIs this season and the New York Mets went deep four times to back a stellar Noah Syndergaard in their 5-2 victory over the Philadelphia Phillies on Monday night.
Lucas Duda and Neil Walker hit consecutive home runs for New York, which has 11 homers in its last four games after hitting two in the first eight. The power surge has helped the defending NL champions win four of five following a four-game skid that produced a 2-5 start.
Syndergaard (2-0) struck out eight in seven innings and threw 17 of his 94 pitches at least 100 mph. He allowed one run and five hits with two walks, leaving him with 29 strikeouts and a 0.90 ERA through three starts.
Jerad Eickhoff (1-2) tossed seven strong innings for Philadelphia, giving up two runs and five hits with nine strikeouts and two walks.
The Phillies, who entered last in the NL in batting average and runs, have scored three runs or fewer in 12 of 14 games and have yet to reach 10 hits in a game.
Wright connected in the first inning and hit another opposite-field shot to right in the ninth, giving him 22 home runs in 98 games at Citizens Bank Park. That’s the most by a visiting player in the ballpark’s 13-year history.
It was the 21st career multihomer game for Wright and first since June 20, 2013, at Atlanta.
His first drive halted Eickhoff’s streak of 18 1/3 scoreless innings at the Phillies’ home park. Five of Eickhoff’s 11 major league starts — and two of three this season — have come against the Mets.
Philadelphia tied it in the third on Odubel Herrera’s RBI single, but Syndergaard retired the next nine batters.
The Mets regained the lead on Duda’s RBI double in the sixth that went off the glove of diving left fielder David Lough, called up from Triple-A Lehigh Valley before the game.
Philadelphia threatened in the bottom half with runners on first and second and two outs. Syndergaard reared back and blew a 100 mph fastball past Cameron Rupp to end the inning, much to the delight of the large contingent of Mets fans among the announced crowd of 21,585.
New York padded its lead in the eighth against David Hernandez.
Duda launched his first homer of the year into the front row of the second deck in right, just above the huge image of his face on a video board, and Walker followed with an opposite-field drive to left.
TRAINER’S ROOM
Mets: C Travis d’Arnaud (bruised left elbow) missed his second straight game after getting hit by a pitch on Saturday. … Yoenis Cespedes returned to centre field after serving as the DH during the weekend series at Cleveland, partly due to sore legs he hurt while jumping into the stands trying to catch a foul ball in New York on Wednesday.
UP NEXT
Mets RHP Logan Verrett (0-0, 1.69 ERA) opposes Phillies RHP Vince Velasquez (2-0, 0.00) on Tuesday night as New York tries for its first three-game winning streak this season. Verrett is making his second start in place of Jacob deGrom, who will spend Tuesday pitching a simulated game at the Mets’ spring training home in Florida.
DeGrom missed his last turn in the rotation because of a sore lat muscle on his right side and was placed on the family medical emergency list Saturday following the birth of son Jaxon, who returned home Monday following a health scare.
Velasquez is making his first start since striking out 16 and walking none in a shutout of San Diego on Thursday. One of the right-hander’s two wins came against the Mets on April 9 when he struck out nine, walked three and allowed three hits in six scoreless innings.
