Before Friday night, the last Mets player to hit a home run on their birthday was Anthony Recker on August 29th 2013 against the Phillies. Now, that distinction belongs to Dominic Smith.
Leading off the fourth inning, the now 23-year-old Dominic Smith lined a solo home run off the right field foul pole for his first of the season. After hitting just two in 56 games at Triple-A Las Vegas, it was his first homer since April 11th.
After losing a lot of weight over the offseason (and keeping it off so far this season), Smith is moving great. Overall he went 2-for-4 at the plate with a double and the home run. He also played left field for the first time in his Major League career, where he’d been playing in the minor leagues to help provide the Mets more depth following injuries to Juan Lagares and Yoenis Cespedes.
“I had a couple starts down in the minors, obviously, in the outfield.” Smith said after the game. “I felt comfortable out there, but in the game, I should have probably played that ball off the wall, just things like that I can definitely improve on. I thought I had a good beat on it, these balls carry better than the minor league balls for sure.”
Since rejoining the Mets, Smith is 4-for-12 (.333). While the Mets haven’t won a game since his return, he has done his part both producing runs, as well as putting himself in the position to be driven in by his teammates.
