The Mets need power from the middle of the order and Ike Davis and Lucas Duda provided it, each hitting a pair of home runs in the Mets’ 7-1 victory over the Nationals Friday night at Citi Field.
The Mets hadn’t had two players with multi-homer games since May 7, 2010 (Davis and Rod Barajas) according to Elias Sports Bureau, and it was because of Davis’ adjustments and Duda’s faith in his opposite-field power.
Davis and Duda hit solo shots in the sixth against Stephen Strasburg, the first time the Nationals phenom gave up two homers in an inning. Davis’ 427-foot homer and Duda’s towering 438-foot blast to right-center were also the two longest against Strasburg.
“Strasburg made me look foolish the first two at bats so I just didn’t want to miss the fastball I got over the plate,’’ Davis said after his first multi-homer game since last Sept. 24. “I’m trying to get closer to the plate just because consistently they’re throwing me away. … It’s just the way they’re pitching me. I had to make an adjustment.’’
They both went deep again in the eighth off Drew Storen, Davis a two-run blast and Duda following with a solo shot to left-center.
“Davis has been trying to make adjustments to cover the outside half or quarter of the plate,” Collins said. “But those last two at-bats, I hope it gets this guy going. We need him so bad in the middle of that lineup to produce…. When you hit homers like this against possibly the best team in baseball your confidence has to go up.’’
Duda’s confidence in his opposite field power is important, Collins said.
“When he knows he can hit a ball out to left-center he can get dangerous,’’ Collins said. “That’s how he got to the big leagues: Because he’s got power the other way.When he came to this big park, he thought he had to pull the ball to get it out. Now he knows he doesn’t have to, and it’s going to help him.’’
* SS Ruben Tejada rolled his ankle when Daniel Murphy’s throwing error botched a potential double play. He was looked at by trainer Ray Ramirez, but stayed in the game and claims he’s “perfect” and can play today.
* When an announcement came over the video board that the second Boston Marathon bombing suspect was caught, the crowd burst into chants of “U-S-A!”
“When David [Wright] isn’t up and they’re chanting USA, you knew something was up,’’ Collins said. “There’s bigger things going on in the world. Everybody was pretty excited in the dugout.’’