PHILADELPHIA — David Wright believes he has seen Noah Syndergaard before.
Yup, as a video-game character.
“My friends ask me about him,” the Mets captain said of his flame-throwing teammate, “and I say, ‘Think of it this way: When you used to play video games as a kid, if you build a player and put all the abilities up to max 10.’ He’s that guy you build in the video games.”
Syndergaard didn’t take long in showing why he could be featured on the cover of any video game — just as Wright didn’t take long in reminding how much he loves to hit in the Phillies home ballpark. Syndergaard cruised through seven dominant, one-run innings and Wright hit two of the Mets’ four home runs in a 5-2 victory over the Phillies on Monday, the Mets’ fourth victory in five games.
“I’m always watching film, whether it’s to watch something mechanical or to devise a game plan to attack hitters,” said Syndergaard, who was hitting triple-digits from the start, throwing two 101-mph fastballs to the first batter. “Every once in a while I get a feel for what I’m throwing. The first inning everything was clicking mechanically.”
Clicking, period. Syndergaard surrendered five hits and one earned run. He struck out eight, walked two and threw one wild pitch in seven innings. In three starts covering 20 innings, Syndergaard (2-0) has surrendered 15 hits, two earned runs and struck out 29.
“I thought tonight his velocity was so good. I thought he used his fastball effectively. He didn’t throw as many changeups as he normally does,” said manager Terry Collins, whose Mets unloaded four homers — two by Wright sandwiching back-to-back homers by Lucas Duda and Neil Walker in the eighth.
Collins watched Syndergaard ring up 100 on the radar gun consistently early.
“I was saying, ‘Boy, he must feel good in the warm weather.’ That was the first thing I thought,” Collins said. “The second thing was, ‘I hope he’s throwing something else.’ … He’s made such huge strides [and] gotten so good so fast, it’s remarkable.”
About as remarkable as Wright’s ability in Citizens Bank Park. With his homer in the first and another in the ninth, Wright has hit more home runs than any other visiting player in the Phillies home park since it opened in 2004. He entered the game without a homer or RBI on the season. Those droughts evaporated on his first at-bat. Wright now has 22 career homers and 69 RBIs in 98 games at Citizens Bank Park, both career highs by an opponent.
But he has a logical explanation.
“I play here a lot,” Wright said.
And the Mets captain seemed more intent on talking about the dominant righty than his own success.
“His presence physically, the stuff, command he throws,” Wright said. “If he’s not throwing 100, he’s throwing 96, 97. He can beat you with hitting spots and secondary pitches. When he’s out there throwing 2-1 sliders or 2-1 changeups or 3-1 curveballs, that just makes it completely unfair when he’s got 100 in his pocket.”
Just as he did in his return last season after a fourth-month disabled-list stay through his battle with spinal stenosis, Wright provided early dramatics as Duda and Walker made their offensive marks later.
Wright, batting second, drove a 2-2 fastball from Philadelphia starter Jerad Eickhoff (1-2) out to right-center for a 1-0 lead. After the Phillies tied it 1-1 in the third with an Odubel Herrera RBI single, Duda added an opposite-field RBI double in the sixth inning for a 2-1 Mets advantage following a Yoenis Cespedes triple.
Duda also has enjoyed life in the park down the New Jersey Turnpike. With his first homer of the season preceding Walker’s fourth in the eighth, Duda has 30 career RBIs, in 40 games, at Citizens Bank.
