David Wright got his 1,000th career hit last night, but it was his 3-for-3 night at the plate in the nightcap of yesterday’s doubleheader that had more immediate impact on the Mets.
“Baseball is a game of numbers, but I was glad to finally contribute to a win,” Wright said of his four-RBI performance in the team’s 10-5 win over the Dodgers at Citi Field, their sixth straight. “The guys behind me and in front of me stepped up.”
The Mets had been winning — at times — in spite of their third baseman. And he hadn’t gotten results batting fifth in Jerry Manuel’s new lineup.
Still, both Wright and Manuel had been encouraged by the fact that he was hitting the ball the other way and up the middle with more frequency lately.
That finally began to pay dividends last night. After going 1-for-3 in the opener, a 4-0 win, Wright followed with a walk and a single off of knuckleballer Charlie Haegar and then a bloop RBI single to center in the fifth that put the Mets up 4-3.
But it was his booming, bases-loaded triple to right-center in the sixth that showed Wright was closer than ever to finding his form and also helped put the Dodgers away.
“I’ve realized how there’s gonna be ups and downs over the course of the year,” said Wright, who is now hitting .436 in his career against the Dodgers. “I’ve gone through a down period and I’m trying to stay consistent.”
Before yesterday’s 4-for-6 outing, Wright was just 4-for-27 and hadn’t had a multi-hit game since April 13. And after striking out for the 13th consecutive game in the opener, Wright broke the streak last night.
Still, he was more enthused about the six wins in a row than anything else and admitted that things were different this season than they had been in the past.
“I think we have the right attitude,” Wright said. “Maybe a part of it was the failure that we had has brought everybody a little bit closer. I think everybody realized we have to play as a unit to be successful. This city doesn’t want great individual performances, they want winners. Hopefully we can give them that.”
dan.martin@nypost.com