PHILADELPHIA — Kelly Shoppach’s audition with the Mets is off to a good start, but manager Terry Collins said he isn’t going to disregard Josh Thole.
Collins had the recently acquired Shoppach in the starting lineup at catcher for a third straight game Wednesday night but said he likely will play Thole the next three days, starting with Thursday’s series finale against the Phillies at Citizens Bank Park.
On Tuesday, Shoppach went 3-for-5 with three RBIs, including a two-run homer in the 10th inning that sent the Mets to a 9-5 victory. He went 1-for-3 in Wednesday night’s 3-2 victory over the Phillies.
The Mets are auditioning Shoppach, who is unsigned beyond this season, for a potential 2013 role with the club.
“I want to give Kelly a shot,” Collins said. “We brought him here to see if it’s going to be a fit. I think he needs some playing time to find that out.”
Collins said the veteran also has impressed him defensively.
“He has a good feel as the game goes on of what’s working and what’s not,” Collins said. “I thought he’s done a nice job there and as we’ve seen a couple of times, if he gets mistakes [to hit] he can do some damage with them.”
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Frank Francisco pitched a perfect ninth inning with two strikeouts for his 22nd save. It was a third straight strong performance by the Mets closer after struggling earlier in the month.
“He’s got four plus pitches and we talked to him early in the year about using them,” Collins said. “They are very good pitches and the more he uses them, the more effective he is.”
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Ike Davis, who was batting .223 before Wednesday night, had reporters figure out what he would have to hit over the final month to raise his average to .240. The answer was a 27-for-85 (.318) final month would get Davis to .240.
Davis went 2-for-4 Wednesday night and upped his average to .226. He was batting just .160 on June 5.
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Wednesday night’s victory over the Phillies gave the Mets seven victories in eight games this season at Citizens Bank Park. It also gave the Mets three series victories in Philadelphia this season. The only other time the Mets won three series of three or more games in Philadelphia during a single season was 1989.