The Palm Beach Post

Career power night for Met

Cespedes hits 3 homers — including slam — with 7 RBIs.

- Associated Press

Yoenis Cespedes put on quite a show in his first game at Coors Field.

Cespedes hit three home runs, including a grand slam, and had a career-high seven RBIs as the New York Mets overpowere­d the Colorado Rockies 14-9 on Friday night.

“Good hitters find a night where they can lock themselves in and they won’t miss a ball,” Cespedes said through an interprete­r. “They will hit it hard. I had that kind of night. This was the best night I have ever had.”

Travis d’Arnaud and Michael Conforto also had home runs in the seventh inning in the Mets’ first five-homer game since Sept. 5, 2014, against Cincinnati.

Cespedes led off the eighth with a chance to tie the major league record for most home runs in a game. He singled off reliever Tommy Kahnle for his fifth hit of the game, a career best.

He came up again with two outs in the ninth to face Rafael Betancourt and hit a drive to right-center field that Carlos Gonzalez caught near the warning track.

Acquired from Detroit in a trade deadline deal July 31, Cespedes began the power display with a slam off rookie Jon Gray in the Mets’ six-run second inning, helping New York take a 7-1 lead.

He led off the fourth with his second homer, this one off reliever Christian Bergman. His third, a two-run drive off Christian Friedrich, snapped an 8-8 tie in the sixth.

It was the third time this season a Mets player has hit three home runs in a game. Lucas Duda was the last July 29 against San Diego.

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