The Mets acquired Yoenis Céspedes at the trade deadline with the hopes he could spark an offense that far too often was barely flickering.

Despite his new team moving into first place shortly after his arrival, and building 3.5-game advantage in the NL East, the former Detroit Tiger struggled to get going three weeks in. His .274 average with two homers and eight RBIs in seventy-three at-bats was a lukewarm performance masked by the hot bats around him.

By the time he arrived at Coors Field, Céspedes was on full blaze. He tallied five hits, finishing a triple shy of the cycle. He blasted three homers, the 12th player in franchise history to do so. He scored five times and drove in seven in a 14-9 win which extended New York’s division lead to a season-high five games.

Seven of his RBIs came courtesy of the home run ball in consecutive at-bats. The first to leave the yard was the most productive (and maybe the most impressive). He took a low curveball from Colorado starter Jon Gray and golfed it to the opposite field. It happened to be a grand slam and was part of a six-run frame for New York. His next came leading off the fourth — a shot to center. Then in the sixth, after the Rockies rallied to tie it at eight, Céspedes crushed another over the center field wall with Daniel Murphy on base.

He added a first inning two-out double and a single through the right side of the infield to lead off the eighth. That hit made Céspedes the third major leaguer since 1920 with at least three homers, five hits, seven RBIs and a stolen base. He eventually came around to score for the fifth time on the night. Only a nifty nifty ninth-inning catch in the right–center field gap by Carlos González prevented a cycle-making triple and also kept Céspedes from joining Edgardo Alfonzo as the only Mets (at the time) to collect six hits in a game.

It was certainly one of the best single-game performances in Mets history. And afterwards, Céspedes called that the best performance of his career.

“It’s like any other player or good hitter,” he said. “They find a night when they can lock themselves in, and they won’t miss the ball.”

He continued to sizzle over the next 33 games, drilling 12 homers with an OPS of 1.004 en route to New York’s division title.