Matt Harvey wore half-sleeves on a 44-degree night at Citi Field, but he didn’t merely dress the part of tough guy Wednesday night. He was every bit Clint Eastwood, daring the Padres to make his day.
In the end, the Mets right-hander made manager Terry Collins’ day. Harvey’s 2013 debut was a sight to behold, giving the handful of fans in the ballpark a reason to celebrate the fact they showed up.
Harvey’s one-hitter over seven shutout innings with 10 strikeouts led an 8-4 victory over the Padres before an announced crowd of 22,239.
Lucas Duda, John Buck and Ike Davis all homered for the Mets, who have scored 19 runs in their first two games. They will go for the series sweep when Dillon Gee faces lefty Eric Stults on Thursday.
Everth Cabrera’s single leading off the fourth was the Padres’ only hit against Harvey, who closed his performance by retiring 10 of the final 11 batters he faced. Cabrera was picked off first base by Harvey, who didn’t allow a runner to reach second.
Harvey walked two batters and was finished after 94 pitches. The double-digit strikeout game was his third in 11 career starts. Harvey (1-0) received his first career Citi Field victory after going 0-2 with a 1.88 ERA in four starts here last season.
The Mets seized control of the game with four runs in the fifth inning to take an 8-0 lead. Davis’ two-run homer against Clayton Richard (0-1) was the big hit in the inning. Davis rebounded from an 0-for-5 in the opener that included four strikeouts. His hitless streak to start the season had reached seven at-bats before delivering the two-run rocket.
Collin Cowgill reached on a throwing error by third baseman Jedd Gyorko to begin the big inning. David Wright’s RBI double made it 5-0, before Davis unloaded. Buck delivered an RBI single for the Mets’ final run of the inning. It gave Buck four hits over his first two games with the Mets.
The Mets built a 4-0 lead in the fourth on Buck’s two-run homer against Richard. Duda doubled before Buck hit a line drive to right field that kept carrying until it cleared the fence.
Duda got the Mets started with a monstrous home run in the second. After Marlon Byrd singled leading off, Duda crushed a 1-1 fastball from Richard to the porch in right field. Maybe the best sign for the Mets was the blast came against a left-handed pitcher. Last season, Duda had just four homers in 134 at-bats against lefties.
Richard lasted 4¹/₃ innings and allowed eight runs, seven earned, on seven hits and two walks with one strikeout. The lefty had a 2.84 ERA in his previous five starts against the Mets.
mpuma@nypost.com