NEW YORK — The Dark Knight? Against a suddenly power-packed Giants lineup, Matt Harvey was more like George Clooney’s version in “Batman & Robin.”
A night after Chris Heston no-hit the Mets, the Giants hammered Harvey and won 8-5 behind three homers at spacious Citi Field. Harvey tied a career-high by allowing seven earned runs in six innings and the Giants became the first team to hit three homers in one game off the hard-throwing right-hander.
Joe Panik got it started, Brandon Belt hit a go-ahead two-run blast and Justin Maxwell provided the Bane backbreaker as the Giants pulled away with five runs in the sixth. They’ve won four of five on this road trip after bringing a five-game losing streak to this side of the country.
Panik, the hometown kid, rattled Harvey right away with a two-out homer to right in the first. The Mets bounced back with two off Tim Hudson in the bottom of the inning and they tacked on two runs in the middle innings. That’s when the explosion came.
Panik opened the sixth with a single and Angel Pagan worked a walk. Opposing hitters were just 3-for-40 when in an 0-2 count against Harvey, but Panik’s homer was on an 0-2 pitch and Buster Posey lined a 99 mph 0-2 fastball to right that tied the game in the sixth. Belt followed by lofting a high homer to left, his eighth. Two batters later, Maxwell smoked a solo shot to left.
Starting pitching report: Hudson was knocked out after Wilmer Flores led off the sixth with a double. The veteran right-under was charged with eight hits and four earned runs, but he got the win thanks to the big sixth inning by the lineup.
Bullpen report: George Kontos followed Hudson and struck out two while getting out of a jam. Kontos has inherited 13 runners this season. None have scored. That’s one way to make sure you never pay for dinner.
At the plate: There’s hot, and then there’s red-hot … and then there’s Nori Aoki on the road right now. The leadoff hitter had four hits and is 22-for-39 in his last nine games away from AT&T Park.
In the field: Let’s talk some more Nori. His strong throw to the plate nailed Curtis Granderson in the first. Aoki came to San Francisco with a shaky defensive rep, but he has been a plus out there.
Attendance: The Mets announced a crowd of 24,436 peeps, and there were at least a couple hundred from Finnerty’s, the Bay Area-loving bar in Manhattan. They’ve had a fun couple of nights.
Up next: Tim Lincecum (6-3, 3.29 ERA) goes for the sweep against lefty Jonathon Niese (3-6, 4.43), who is the complete opposite of the Syndergaard-Harvey duo.
