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Daniel Vogelbach has put together some solid games for the New York Mets since being acquired on July 22, with his best game coming against the Washington Nationals on Wednesday.

The 29-year-old went 2-for-5 with a grand slam that gave the Mets a 6-0 lead in the fifth inning. It was both his first home run as a Met and his first RBIs as a Met.

“I’m just trying to keep the same approach as always,” said Vogelbach. “Get something over the plate to hit and hit it hard, and after that, it’s out of my control.”

Vogelbach’s home run came off Nationals righty Jordan Weems, who had just been inserted into the game to replace starter Anibal Sanchez. Vogelbach unloaded on his 97 MPH fastball and sent it 363 feet to right field.

The Mets would go on to score three more runs to make Vogelbach’s home run just seem like icing on the cake at the time. However, after a ninth-inning meltdown by newly-acquired reliever Mychal Givens, Vogelbach’s homer became the difference-maker.

Before coming over to the Mets, Vogelbach batted .228/.338/.430 with 29 runs scored, 12 home runs, 34 RBIs, and a .769 OPS in 237 at-bats with the Pirates. Since the trade, he has hit .308/.471/.500 with three runs scored, one home run, four RBIs, and a .971 OPS in 26 at-bats.

“Night in and night out just trying to have good at-bats and pass the torch because there’s good hitters up and down the lineup all the way through,” said Vogelbach.

While his early success with the Mets has been a very small sample size, the numbers he has produced so far are not as inflated as they may look on the surface.

Vogelbach has historically hit righties at a much better clip than lefties, and this season has been no different. Of Vogelbach’s 237 at-bats with Pittsburgh, 64 of them came against left-handed pitchers which resulted in a .423 OPS. On the flip side, the 173 at-bats he had against right-handed pitchers resulted in a .896 OPS. With Vogelbach bound to see fewer lefties as he platoons with fellow newly-acquired designated hitter Darin Ruf, his numbers on the Mets may end up being more in line with his career .820 OPS against righties rather than his career .747 OPS against all pitchers.

“If you look at their track record and why they were acquired it’s pretty obvious with what we expect,” said Buck Showalter when asked about the potential of a Vogelbach and Ruf platoon the rest of the season. “We looked at a way to upgrade. We think those two guys have a really good track record from both sides of the plate. It presents a real challenge for the other team.”