Maybe the Mets should send their whole lineup to Las Vegas for a few weeks.
Travis d’Arnaud sparked a 10-1 rout over the A’s with a three-run homer in his first game since returning from a two-week stint with Triple-A Las Vegas to simplify his approach at the plate and the Mets also got a pair of homers from embattled outfielder Chris Young.
“The thing we haven’t done is put together big innings, put together run-scoring singles with two outs,” manager Terry Collins said after the team’s third straight win and fifth in its last six games.
“I knew we had some power, I didn’t know how much,” Collins said. “We hadn’t hit for any power in the first 75 games. To see the power come out now, it’s nice to see. All you can do is sit back, knock on wood that it keeps up.”
Three of the Mets’ homers came off Scott Kazmir, famously traded for Victor Zambrano a decade ago.
In just three innings, Kazmir gave up three long balls, the first a two-run shot to Curtis Granderson to give the Mets a 2-1 lead. Young followed with his fifth of the season, giving the Mets their first back-to-back homers since last September.
“We just made him throw strikes,” Young said.
Young hit another off Jim Johnson in the fifth.
The biggest blow, though, came from d’Arnaud, playing his first game since being recalled from Triple-A Las Vegas after a brutal first two months of the season. His third-inning, three-run blast to left gave the Mets a 7-1 lead, which was plenty for Bartolo Colon.
Colon (8-5) has won six consecutive decisions and has pitched into the eighth inning in each of his last three starts. Against the A’s, whom he played for last season, he recovered from a bumpy first inning and was masterful for much of his outing. The right-hander gave up just four hits and struck out eight.
“When he takes the mound now, you know he’s going to get us to the eighth inning,” Collins said.
Kazmir (9-3) gave up eight hits and seven runs in just three. None of those hits was more damaging than d’Arnaud’s. The catcher had been optioned on June 7 when he was hitting just .180 with an OPS of .544.
The trip to the minors was meant to build his confidence and d’Arnaud had 24 hits in 55 at-bats while with Las Vegas, hitting six homers with 16 RBIs in 15 games. He showed that was happens in Vegas doesn’t necessarily stay in Vegas.
“It wasn’t just the home run,” Collins said. “It was [all] the swings, every time up. He had better swings, more aggressive swings. Maybe the time down there really did help him.”
Before Tuesday’s game, d’Arnaud talked about redeeming himself.
“Like I said before I left, it was unacceptable,’’ d’Arnaud said. “I had a long look in the mirror with myself and had a good conversation with myself and found myself. … I just remembered what this game’s all about.”
He got off to a good start on Tuesday to help spark an uncharacteristic Mets offensive outburst as they scored double-digit runs in consecutive games for the first time since 2011.
“I was happy I hit a few balls hard,” d’Arnaud said. “That’s all I’m focusing on.”
In Las Vegas, he said he tried to “get back to basics. Simplify everything.”
For one game, it worked.
“I forgot how fun this game really was,” d’Arnaud said. “I was putting a lot of pressure on myself.”