PHILADELPHIA – Yoenis Cespedes slowly circled the bases after each of his three homers, enjoying the results on a sweet night that began with an impressive power stroke in batting practice.
Cespedes became the first Mets player to hit three homers in a game twice and New York went deep seven times to back Matt Harvey in a 14-4 win over the Philadelphia Phillies on Tuesday night.
Cespedes’ home run trots each took almost 30 seconds. The slugger only connected once in the first seven games.
“Any player that hits three homers would have fun,” he said through an interpreter. “I think I was seeing the ball well.”
Mets manager Terry Collins called Cespedes a “special player” and said he wasn’t surprised by his performance.
“Did you see him in BP? He was hitting them out like a driving range,” Collins said.
Harvey (2-0) left with tightness in his left hamstring after allowing two runs and five hits and striking out six in 5⅔ innings. He said it was just a cramp and expects to make his next start.
“It’s nothing serious,” Harvey said.
Phillies starter Clay Buchholz (0-1) also exited because of an injury, a strained right forearm. He gave up six runs and eight hits in 2⅓ innings. Phillies manager Pete Mackanin said Buchholz will have an MRI on Wednesday.
Lucas Duda hit two homers and Asdrubal Cabrera and Travis d’Arnaud also went deep for New York, which has 46 homers in its last 21 games at Citizens Bank Park.
“They were excited to come here. They like to hit here,” Collins said.
Cespedes fell down on a wild swing on the first pitch he saw, then hit a three-run homer to straightaway center field off Buchholz in the first inning. He connected to deep left in the fourth off Adam Morgan and drove another one way out to left in the fifth against Morgan.
Cespedes hit three homers once before, at Colorado on Aug. 21, 2015. He hit a double and grounder in his last two at-bats.
The Mets entered with a .192 team batting average and eight homers in seven games. Every starter except Harvey had a hit, and they finished with 20. They had 14 extra-base hits, second-most in this ballpark to their 15 on Aug. 24, 2015.
“Another embarrassing game against the Mets,” Mackanin said.
Duda blasted one 137 meters over the towering, ivy-covered brick wall in center off Morgan. Cabrera, Duda and Cespedes each had four hits. Cabrera fell a triple shy of the cycle.
Maikel Franco hit his first homer for the Phillies in the second.
Harvey tweaked his leg covering first base on a grounder. He missed the 2014 season after undergoing Tommy John surgery and made only 17 starts last year before surgery to relieve symptoms from thoracic outlet syndrome.
Marlins 8, Braves 4
In Miami, a gray cat went scrambling for cover in the Marlins Park outfield midway through Marlins’ home opener, and no wonder, given the barrage off Marcell Ozuna’s bat.
Ozuna homered twice and had a career-high six RBIs to help Miami beat Atlanta.
Announced attendance was 36,519, and that didn’t include a cat that ran onto the field midway through the game. It scurried along the outfield warning track, ran away from right fielder Giancarlo Stanton, crawled up the center field wall and then appeared to get stuck in the animatronic home run sculpture.
Marlins president David Samson said if Ozuna had hit a third homer, the sculpture would not have been activated for fear of harming the cat.
Nationals 8, Cardinals 3
In Washington, Daniel Murphy homered, doubled twice and tied career highs with five RBIs and four hits and the Nationals defeated St. Louis.
Matt Wieters and Jayson Werth also hit solo shots to help Washington earn a second home series victory.
Nationals left-hander Gio Gonzalez (1-0) allowed two runs — one earned — over seven innings. He allowed six hits before retiring his last 11 batters.
Lance Lynn (0-1) allowed six runs — four earned — and five hits and four walks over five innings.
Rockies 3, Padres 2
In Denver, Nolan Arenado hit a go-ahead homer in the seventh, Antonio Senzatela threw seven sharp innings for his first major league win and Colorado beat San Diego.
Arenado lined a fastball from reliever Miguel Diaz (1-1) to right for his third homer. Carlos Gonzalez and Charlie Blackmon also hit solo shots to help Colorado knot the three-game series with San Diego at a game apiece. The Rockies have a chance to win their third straight series to start the season, a feat only accomplished in team history by the 1995 squad.
Reds 6, Pirates 2
In Pittsburgh, Scooter Gennett homered for the second straight night and finished with three hits, helping Cincinnati overcome the early departure of injured starter Rookie Davis to beat the Pirates for its sixth win in seven games.
Davis, a rookie right-hander, left in the fifth inning with a bruised right forearm after being struck by a pitch from Pittsburgh’s Jameson Taillon. He worked four innings in his second major league start, allowing a run, two hits and four walks while striking out three.
Red Sox 8, Orioles 1
In Boston, Drew Pomeranz struck out six in his season debut, Dustin Pedroia drove in four runs and Red Sox beat Baltimore.
Christian Vazquez added a two-run triple in the eighth, capping off a 4-for-4 game, as Boston tagged Baltimore’s pitchers for 15 hits and had back-to-back three-run innings in the seventh and eighth to blow the game open.
Pomeranz, who opened the season on the disabled list with a strained left forearm, took a shutout into the seventh inning. He held Baltimore to four hits and one run in six innings and picked up his first win at Fenway Park.
Pablo Sandoval had a sacrifice fly in the second and Pedroia had one in the fifth off Dylan Bundy (1-1), who was strong through the first six innings. Bundy pitched 6 1/3 innings, allowing three runs and seven hits.
Tigers 2, Twins 1
In Detroit, Matthew Boyd allowed one hit in six outstanding innings and James McCann homered in the fifth to lift the Tigers to a win over Minnesota.
Boyd (1-1) took a no-hitter into the sixth before Robbie Grossman broke it up by lining a clean single to left field with two out. The Detroit left-hander struck out six and walked two before turning the game over to the bullpen. Tigers relievers have struggled so far this season, but they were able to close this game out.
Indians 2, White Sox 1 (10)
In Cleveland, Michael Brantley doubled home Francisco Lindor with two outs in the 10th inning as the Indians celebrated their 2016 AL championship and then beat Chicago in the home opener.
Brantley could only watch and cheer for his teammates last October during their postseason run after undergoing two surgeries on his right shoulder. But he’s healthy now, and after playing in just 11 games last season, Brantley made the most of his first home game since May 10 with his game-winning hit.
Angels 6, Rangers 5 (10)
In Anaheim, Carlos Perez’s squeeze bunt in the 10th inning capped another comeback for Los Angeles, which scored three times in the ninth before going on to beat Texas.
The Rangers led 5-0 through six innings.
With runners on the corners and one out, Perez set down a perfect bunt that hugged the inside grass and died without going foul.
The Angels had rallied to score seven runs in the ninth in the previous game on Sunday to beat the Mariners.
Diamondbacks 4, Giants 3
In San Francisco, Robbie Ray pitched shutout ball into the seventh inning despite some control issues, Jake Lamb hit a bases-loaded triple and Arizona beat the Giants.
Chris Iannetta added an RBI single, and A.J. Pollock singled, scored and made a stellar __play in center field to rob Aaron Hill of extra bases in the third.
The Diamondbacks improved to 7-2, matching its best start in franchise history.
Astros 7, Mariners 5
In Seattle, George Springer hit his fourth leadoff home run of the season, Evan Gattis had a bases-loaded pinch-hit double and Houston beat the Mariners.
Seattle reliever James Pazos gave up hits to all four Houston batters he faced in the sixth inning — including Gattis’ double and a run-scoring single by Alex Bregman — as the Astros scored four runs to take the lead for good.
Joe Musgrove (1-0) pitched into the sixth inning, giving up three runs and seven hits for Houston.
Brewers 4, Blue Jays 3
In Toronto, Keon Broxton and Domingo Santana hit solo home runs, Wily Peralta pitched six innings for his second victory in two starts and Milwaukee handed slumping Toronto its sixth straight home opening loss.
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