Ike Davis Hits 3 Homers, Mets Still Lose to Diamondbacks

Ike Davis hit three home runs Saturday night, providing all of the offense for the Mets, but it wasn’t enough as another starter dug an early hole out of which the team could not dig itself out.

It was trouble from the start for Chris Young. Gerardo Parra led off the bottom of the first with a single and Aaron Hill followed with a double off the wall to score Parra. Young briefly settled down and stranded Hill at third.

Davis got the run back with one mighty swing leading off the second inning, an absolute bomb to dead center field just below the scoreboard to tie the score at one.

Young walked Miguel Montero to lead off the second. He came around to score on a Ryan Wheeler double to give the Diamondbacks a 2-1 lead. Parra singled to plate Wheeler to make it 3-1.

In a case of deja vu, Davis hit another solo home run in the fourth, also to dead center field in almost the same spot as the first one to cut the lead to 3-2.

With a man on in the fourth Montero homered to right to make it 5-2. Young walked Wheeler, who scored when Parra singled again to extend the lead to 6-2.

Young was lifted for a pinch hitter after four crummy innings in which he allowed six runs on seven hits. His ERA now stands at 4.58.

Then leading off the six, Davis hit his third solo home run on the night, this one into the right field bullpen, to make it a 6-3 game. Davis has hit four homers in two games back in his hometown and now has 20 for the season. He’s tied for sixth most in the National League.

In the eighth inning, going for a would-be record tying fourth home run, Davis singled to right. The four-for-four night raised Davis’s batting average to .216. But more importantly, it put runners on first and second with no outs. Daniel Murphy gave it a ride but flew out to the warning track in center. David Wright, who had walked to lead off the inning, advanced to third. Jason Bay struck out on consecutive vicious breaking balls from David Hernandez. Kirk Nieuwenhuis also struck out to end the threat.

With one out in the ninth Andres Torres struck out,  but the ball got past the catcher and Torres was safe at first. Ruben Tejada singled to put runners in first and second. Pinch hitter Scott Hairston, the potential tying run at the plate, struck out on a 3-2 pitch that was out of the strike zone. It was up to Wright — and he struck out, too, to end the game, with Davis standing on deck.

The bullpen (Ramon Ramirez, Manny Acosta and Josh Edgin) deserves credit for throwing four scoreless innings to keep the game within reach, but this time the offense (except for Davis) couldn’t get the job done.

Mets lose again, 6-3, but let’s concentrate on Davis’s three home runs. Yeah, let’s do that.