Six years ago today, the 2015 National League champions flexed their muscles and put their power on full display at the Citizens Bank Bam-Box.
On just another ordinary Monday night, the New York Mets launched a franchise-record eight home runs and 15 extra-base hits in the 15-7 onslaught of the Philadelphia Phillies.
In what was Jacob deGrom’s worst start of the season, the Mets fell behind early as Ryan Howard crushed a three-run shot to left in the bottom of the first. However, the Mets offense was sparked not too much longer, and backed up their ace.
With his first swing back from the injured list, David Wright crushed a fastball from Adam Morgan into the second deck for a solo home run. Wright hadn’t appeared in a game since April 15, a total of 133 days, due to spinal stenosis.
That emotional homer set the tone for the Mets offense the rest of the night, and believe it or not, they actually picked up deGrom.
Philly responded right away, as Cameron Rupp launched a solo shot to make it 4-1. Juan Lagares cracked the Mets’ second homer of the game in the top of the third cutting into the lead, but the Phillies responded again with a Dominic Brown three-run shot.
From that point on, it was all Mets. Wilmer Flores and Travis d’Arnaud both homered in the top of the fourth to make it a two-run game. Flores then added another in the fifth, a three-run shot, to give the Mets an 8-7 lead. Michael Cuddyer followed that with a solo shot of his own.
Daniel Murphy lifted a two-run homer in the top of the sixth to tie the record and make it 11-7 Mets. Yoenis Cespedes then capped things off and broke the record with a two-run shot in the top of the ninth, making it 16-7 Mets.
Every hitter in the top seven of the Mets’ lineup had two or more hits and recorded an XBH and RBI on the night. They scored five against Adam Morgan, four against Hector Neris, five against Adam Loewen, and two against Justin De Fratus.
At the time, the Mets improved to a season-high 12 games over .500 with a 68-56 record. They increased their winning streak to four games, and sat comfortably with a 5.5 game lead over the Washington Nationals in the NL East.
“We just know that we’re going to win the game. That’s the type of confidence that you can’t tell somebody to have, that you can’t force upon somebody. You just have to get good at winning. And this team is getting good at winning,” Wright said postgame.
As Wright said, that 2015 Mets team was good at winning, and just found ways to win games night in and night out. They were a real fun group to watch down the stretch, hopefully the 2021 Mets can find some of that magic and put together a little late-season run of their own.
