PHILADELPHIA — Nobody should be happier with the Mets’ decision to start playing Lucas Duda in right field than human yo-yo Nick Evans.
The 25-year-old fan favorite knows just about every cloud on the airline route between Buffalo and Flushing, but has waited forever to regain the kind of opportunity now facing him: a chance to play every day for the Mets.
Evans is off to a good start in his new role as Mets first baseman. That included yesterday’s 3-for-4 performance, with a three-run homer and career-high four RBIs in the Mets’ 7-4 victory over the Phillies at Citizens Bank Park that helped his team snap a five-game skid.
Days like yesterday — and the previous night, when he went 2-for-4 — make it easier for Evans to accept his plight as the team’s perennial 26th man.
“As long as you feel you have a shot to get back here, you’re OK,” Evans said. “It’s difficult obviously to keep going down, but as long as you know that you have an opportunity to play your way back, it’s OK.”
Evans finished a triple short of the cycle yesterday, but was later reminded that he had tripled in his final at-bat Tuesday night. He then homered, singled and doubled in his first three at-bats yesterday.
“One thing he hasn’t had an opportunity to do is be an everyday player in the big leagues and see if he can hit here,” manager Terry Collins said. “As we were getting into this and knew we wanted to put Lucas in the outfield we said, ‘We’ve got a guy on this bench that can produce runs, he’s done it in the minor leagues and let’s see what he can do.’ Right now there is an opportunity for him.”
Evans hit a three-run homer against Kyle Kendrick in the first, giving Mike Pelfrey a 4-0 lead before he threw his first pitch. Evans’ RBI double in the fifth accounted for the Mets’ final run.
Pelfrey (7-10) survived a rocky second inning, in which the Phillies sent nine batters to the plate and scored three runs, to get his first win since July 27 at Cincinnati. The righty pitched six innings and allowed nine hits, throwing a career-high 125 pitches in the process.
The Mets, with a weary bullpen, needed every last pitch.
Pelfrey exchanged words with Placido Polanco in the sixth, after the Phillies third baseman was slow in reacting to an inside slider. Polanco wears a protector on his left arm and Pelfrey said he told him not to lean into the pitch. Polanco responded by saying he wasn’t trying to get hit.
The exchange prompted Phillies broadcaster Gary Matthews to refer to the Mets as “crybabies” on the air, indicating such behavior was the driving force behind the team’s dismal record. But neither Collins nor Pelfrey had any retaliatory words afterward.
“I don’t give a [bleep] what they say,” Collins said. “That’s his opinion. Ask him how he felt when he was in a five-game losing streak. You’re on edge.”
Pelfrey said he didn’t know who Matthews was, and didn’t care. But the righty had more trouble ignoring a Mets fan heckling him as he warmed up in the bullpen. After the fan called Pelfrey a “hand licker” the pitcher licked his fingers as a joke. That gave the fan more ammunition.
“The guy just blew me up,” Pelfrey said. “He said, ‘You might be a nice guy, but try volleyball.’ It went on for a good 4-5 minutes. I was thinking there is no way this guy is a fan.”
mpuma@nypost.com