METS GAME DAY

Michael Conforto set the tone Tuesday with his first at-bat against Padres starter Jhoulys Chacin, socking a 1-2 offering over the right field wall to stake the Mets and Matt Harvey to an early lead that they would not relinquish.

Conforto had a career-high four RBI, and finished the game 3-for-4 with two solo home runs and two runs scored, as the Mets piled on Chacin for seven runs and rolled over the Padres. The Mets and Harvey (3-3) got the win, but all the talk afterward was about the young Mets outfielder who is keeping pace with Yankee rookie sensation Aaron Judge on the other side of town.

“He’s in one of those grooves that great hitters get into that you just don’t want to mess with them,” Terry Collins said of Conforto.

By the time Brad Hand drilled Conforto in the eighth inning, what was left of the 24,337 at Citi Field booed lustily. After Conforto’s leadoff homer, he later swatted a two-run single in that same first inning when the Mets had batted around. According to the Elias Sports Bureau, Conforto is the first Met in the leadoff spot to collect three RBI in the first inning of a game. Conforto also homered off Padres reliever Craig Stammen to open the fourth inning. Against an awful Padres team, Harvey wasn’t terrible, but also was far from dominating, lasting five innings while throwing 103 pitches (60 strikes). The one thing the Padres batters were able to do was run up Harvey’s pitch count quickly.