PHILADELPHIA _ Yoenis Cespedes delivered a reminder of his awesome power. The Mets slugger tied a career-high with three home runs, turning a 14-4 thrashing of the Phillies into a personal showcase.
Aside from Matt Harvey's early exit with what the club called a tight left hamstring, the Mets lived a charmed life on Tuesday night, with Cespedes breaking out of his slump to begin the season.
The lineup brutalized Phillies pitching for a season-high 14 run on 20 hits, including seven homers. Three came off the bat of Cespedes, who began the day hitting just .154.
Lucas Duda delivered the longest blast, the first of his two homers. Measured at an estimated 448 feet according to MLB.com, Duda's blast cleared the ivy-covered batters' eye in straightaway center field.
Cespedes and Asdrubal Cabrera hit back-to-back homers in the fourth inning against Phillies reliever Adam Morgan. And in the eighth, catcher Travis d'Arnaud lined a two-run shot to the opposite field.
The Mets have hit 46 homers in their last 21 games in Philadelphia. That included 18 home runs in just nine games at Citizens Bank Park a season ago, when they used a similar barrage in April to snap out of an early-season offensive funk.
The night belonged to Cespedes. Twice, he came to the plate looking to become just the 17th player in baseball history to smack four homers in the same game. Twice, he received applause from a pro-Mets crowd. He'd double and hit into a forceout, though the damage was already done.
Cespedes homered three times in a game for the first time since Aug. 21, 2015 at Coors Field, not long after his trade to the Mets from the Tigers. He finished 4 for 6 with three homers, a double and five RBIs. His four extra-base hits equaled a franchise record for a single game.
Cespedes became just the 13th Mets player to hit three homers in a game, and the only one in franchise history to do it twice.
Cespedes lugged a .154 average to the plate with him in the first inning, when Phillies starter Clay Buchholz offered up a slump-buster. Ahead in the count 0-and-2, Buchholz threw a 91-mph fastball down the heart of the plate. Cespedes connected, his three-run shot landing in the topiary behind the center-field fence.
It was his 50th homer as a member of the Mets in his 197th game with the franchise. Only Dave Kingman reached that milestone sooner, according to the Elias Sports Bureau.
The Mets added two more runs in the second, giving Harvey a 5-0 lead, though it came with a little help from the Phillies.
Odubel Herrera lost Curtis Granderson's routine fly ball to center, which helped ignite a rally. Cabrera moved himself into scoring position by tagging up on a pop-up behind the plate, taking advantage of Cameron Rupp's lack of focus. Cabrera eventually scored on Jay Bruce's two-run single.
Cabrera went 4 for 6, scored three runs and finished only a triple short of the cycle. Duda went 4 for 6, capping his night with a ninth-inning solo shot. D'Araud collected three hits, including a homer while knocking in three runs.
It would have been a banner night for the Mets had it not been for the circumstance of Harvey's departure. The righty pitched well in his second outing of the year, holding the Phillies to two runs on five hits in 52/3 innings.
But Harvey winced in the sixth inning shortly after covering first base on a groundout to first. Moments later, he walked off the field with trainer Ray Ramirez, a bad visual for a team that has already been forced to lean on its pitching depth.
