Kirk! Kirk! Kirk!
MET BLASTS 3 HOMERS
YANKEE ROOKIE SHINES VS. BOSOX
IT TURNS OUT that GM Sandy Alderson might have already picked up the power bat Mets fans have been pining for.
Kirk Nieuwenhuis, reacquired by Alderson on waivers on June 13 following a brief stint with the Angels, improbably blasted three home runs — the first player to do so in a home game in team history — as the surging Mets completed a threegame sweep of Arizona with a 5-3 win on Sunday at Citi Field.
Daniel Murphy also went deep for the Mets (47-42), giving them nine long balls in the three victories — including one from Matt Harvey on Saturday — and six wins in seven games to remain two behind Washington in the NL East heading into the AllStar break.
“Huge day, big day, for Kirk and for us, and to finish out the first half like this is really cool,” Terry Collins said. “I said last week, we think we should be farther over .500, obviously. ... When you look at the injuries we’ve had, 12 rookies, we’re very fortunate to be where we are and that’s a tribute to them.
“But we still have to play better in the second half. ... I told them before the game, ‘Get some rest. Because it’s crunch time now.’”
Nieuwenhuis came into the game batting a paltry .091 in 44 at-bats this season with the Mets. But the spare outfielder — subbing for Michael Cuddyer — clubbed home runs in the second, third and fifth innings to provide Jonathon Niese with a 5-2 lead.
He became the 10th player in team annals to go deep three times in one game, but the previous nine instances in the franchise’s 54-year history came on the road.
“Unbelievable, there’s no other words to describe it,” Niese said of Nieuwenhuis, who had totaled just three home runs in limited duty in each of the 2013 and 2014 campaigns. “It’s awesome. Kirk works hard every day. ... It’s not easy what those guys do, when you don’t play every day. But he deserves it.”
Nieuwenhuis, 27, opened the season with the Mets after they traded Matt den Dekker in spring training, but he didn’t hit and was designated for assignment and later traded to the Angels for cash considerations on May 27.
But the Mets, who have been desperate for any bench production all year, scooped Nieuwenhuis back up on waivers barely two weeks later and outrighted him to Triple-A Las Vegas before recalling him on July 6.
“It’s been a wild ride, for sure. Today was a lot of fun, but it’s definitely been a journey,” Nieuwenhuis said. “It’s a little bit surreal, but after the last month, I think I’m used to surreal now.
“But it was big for me and big for the team going into the break.”
Nieuwenhuis led off the second inning with his first home run since Sept. 3 of last season, with a brief video review confirming that the ball struck the black wall in left just above the orange demarcation line.
Arizona tied it on an infield out in the third, but Murphy ripped his fifth homer this season for a 2-1 lead in the bottom half. Nieuwenhuis added a two-run blast to center off Diamondbacks starter Rubby De La Rosa later in the inning for his first multi-homer game since June 14, 2012, at Tampa Bay.
With Randall Delgado pitching in the fifth, the lefty-swinging Nieuwenhuis pulled his third dinger of the day off the foul-pole netting in right, earning a curtain call.
With fans standing and snapping pictures during his next at-bat, however, Nieuwenhuis went down swinging at a 1-2 slider against lefty reliever Andrew Chafin for the first out of the home seventh.
Still, he heard rare cheers following the strikeout.
“I wish that happened all the time,” Nieuwenhuis joked.
Niese (5-8) lasted 6.2 innings for his seventh consecutive quality start, allowing three runs on five hits with zero walks and three strikeouts over 90 pitches.
Mets starters have posted a sparkling 1.56 ERA over their last 16 starts since June 25, although Jacob deGrom (9-6, 2.14 ERA) will be their lone All-Star representative Tuesday in Cincinnati.
“We’re not satisfied by any means,” Niese said. “We want to continue the second half how we finished the first half. If we reach our potential, it could be a pretty exciting second half.”