Teoscar Hernandez went deep twice Saturday night to spark a five-homer barrage by the Toronto Blue Jays. who beat the host New York Mets 10-3 in the middle game of a three-game series.
The Blue Jays snapped a three-game losing streak. The Mets fell to 4-4 in the second half.
George Springer, whom the Mets were interested in last winter before he signed a six-year, $150 million deal with the Blue Jays, started the outburst and quieted a booing crowd of 29,269 by homering to lead off the third against Taijuan Walker (7-4).
Two outs later, Bo Bichette singled before Hernandez homered well into the left field seats.
The Blue Jays doubled the lead in the sixth, when Springer delivered a leadoff single and Vladimir Guerrero Jr. doubled before Marcus Semien hit a three-run homer to end Walker’s night.
The Mets scored three times and brought the tying run to the plate in the fifth, when they chased Hyun Jin Ryu with five straight one-out hits. Brandon Nimmo, Pete Alonso and Dominic Smith all had RBI singles in a four-pitch span before Trevor Richards relieved Ryu and struck out J.D. Davis and James McCann.
The Blue Jays turned the game into a rout when Bichette homered into the second deck in left field in the seventh and delivered an RBI single in the ninth, after which Hernandez hit another two-run blast, this one off the advertising facade in right field.
The multi-homer game was the third of the season for Hernandez and the 12th of his career.
Each of the top six batters in the Blue Jays’ order had at least two hits. The sextet combined to go 13-for-29.
Richards (4-0) was credited with the win after striking out three over an inning of work.
Nimmo, Smith, Alonso, McCann and Luis Guillorme had two hits apiece for the Mets. Nimmo was robbed of an extra-base hit in the third by Springer, who made a diving catch in the left-center field gap.
Walker allowed six runs on eight hits and two walks while striking out one over four-plus innings, He’s given up 12 runs (11 earned) in his last two starts, a span of 4 1/3 innings in which his ERA has risen from 2.50 to 3.43.
–Field Level Media