Birthday boy Flores keeps rolling

Wilmer Flores gave himself a great 27th birthday gift. A three-hit, two-RBI game. “One hit for every nine years,” Flores said.

Flores is on a roll. Including his 3-for-4 night in the Mets’ 6-4 win over Cincinnati at Citi Field on Monday, Flores has hit .476 (10-for-21) with two doubles and one homer in his past seven games.

And keeping with the birthday theme, Flores became the 11th Met ever to get three hits on his birthday and the first to do so since Jeromy Burnitz in 2003. Steven Matz, who went on the 10-day disabled list Friday, retroactive to Aug. 1, did some throwing Monday. “He’s doing really good. He threw off the mound today, looked really good — good effort level, and it seems like he’s progressing well,” manager Mickey Callaway said.

There’s no date for a return yet for Jay Bruce, who went on the DL June 19 with a sore hip, but the Mets seem to be stepping up his rehab.

“He’s doing really well. He’s getting really anxious to get back here with us, so what we’re trying to do right now is put together a return-to-play program that is fairly aggressive, but still make sure that we’re not rushing him back and putting him at risk,” Callaway said. “So he’s definitely itching to get back here and help us out, and he’s progressing really well in his rehab.”

The Mets’ 16 hits were their most since getting 16 against Toronto on May 15. ... For the first time, Amed Rosario has had back-to-back games where he scored two runs. ... Austin Jackson went 3-of-4 and raised his Mets average to .423 (11-for-26). ... Kevin Plawecki’s third home run of the year also represented his 13th RBI, which matches his total from last season.