Mets’ OF Nieuwenhuis has 3 homers in first 3 at-bats

His homer off Delgado rang off the right field foul ball and he became the first Met to hit three home runs in a home game. Better known as simply Raul, he is regarded as one of the greatest soccer players in Spanish history, garnering most of his notoriety while playing with powerhouse Real Madrid. As his.106/.192/.182 slash line for the season suggests, Nieuwenhuis doesn’t pack much punch from the plate. He had not homered in his first 66 at-bats of the season. Ike Davis hit three in Arizona, Carlos Beltran had three in Colorado, and Jose Reyes hit three in Philadelphia all in the past decade.

Harvey pumped his fist in celebration as he rounded the bases, only to learn that Arizona had requested a crew chief review of the home run. Not long after, Nieuwenhuis obliged the crowd’s standing ovation with a curtain call. He hit a two-run, two-out homer to left-center off De La Rosa in the third inning to extend the Mets’ lead to 4-1 and blasted a leadoff homer off right-hander Randall Delgado in the fifth inning to put New York ahead 5-2. His hitting woes likely led to his return to the Mets in the first place, as he spent 10 games with the Angels to begin the season before being released.

He came up once more with a chance for his fourth home run, but he struck out.

“We stuck to the game plan and executed pitches when I needed to”, Niese said.

New York Cosmos Striker Raul Gonzalez was on the field with his family taking in batting practice.

Daniel Murphy also homered for the Mets and all 13 runs produced by the team in the series were via home runs.

They have won four straight overall and seven of their last nine, though they couldn’t get through a day without another injury.

The next inning, Jon Niese allowed the Diamondbacks to tie the game with a Chris Owing double, a bunt, and a ground out by Nick Ahmed.

At this point, the Mets had hit four home runs. Pollock, helped by a diving catch in foul territory by first baseman Lucas Duda.

Jeurys Familia got the last three outs for his 26th save in 28 chances.

“It’s huge”, manager Terry Collins said of Nieuwenhuis’ performance.

Mets: OF Michael Cuddyer (knee) was held out of the lineup after starting back-to-back games. Prior to the game, manager Chip Hale indicated that depending on how the session went, changes might have to be made to his post All-Star game rotation.

“It was fun to see him after that second (homer)”, said left-handed pitcher Jonathon Niese, who earned the win with 6 2/3 solid innings.

Mets: After the All-Star break, the Mets begin a stretch of 10 games in ten days against the three first place teams in the National League, with the first six coming on the road. After a second or two, an incredulous grin crossed his face and he began to laugh. Diamondbacks RHP Jeremy Hellickson, who was penciled in to start the second game after the break, will swap places with the fifth starter, RHP Chase Anderson. The San Francisco Giants are first up on the schedule, for a three-game NL West matchup.