It hasn’t been a wonderful season by Travis d’Arnaud by any means.
The catcher is hitting just .242/.290/.423 in 104 games for the Mets this season, but has turned a corner in the month of September. That held true especially after his offensive output Friday night.
D’Arnaud collected four RBI and clubbed two home runs, the second of which tied the game up for the Mets in the fifth inning at six apiece.
“He’s just swinging the bat really well, which we know he can do,” Mets manager Terry Collins said of d’Arnaud.
It was the second multi-home run effort of the season for the 28-year-old. His other career multi-homer game came this season on April 28 at Washington.
The five-year veteran has 15 homers this season, a new single-season career-high. Nine of his 15 homers this year have given the Mets a lead or tied the game (six go-ahead, three game-tying). The last Mets catcher with at least 15 home runs was John Buck, who hit 15 in 2013.
“It’s definitely nice,” d’Arnaud said.
With Mets general manager Sandy Alderson announcing his plan to go forth with a tandem of d’Arnaud and Kevin Plawecki, Mets catchers have smacked the ball all over the yard.
Since being recalled on Aug. 19, Plawecki is 17-for-56 (.304) with four doubles, two homers, five RBI and six walks in 18 games.
This month, d’Arnaud is batting .326 (15-for-46) with four doubles, five home runs and 14 RBI.
With his two home runs tonight, the Mets have hit 217 home runs this season, one shy of the single-season franchise record 218 home runs the Mets hit last season. This is the first time in team history the Mets have hit 200 or more home runs in consecutive seasons.
