David Wright, Yoenis Cespedes and Neil Walker homered on the day Mets slugger Lucas Duda went on the disabled list, leading New York past the Washington Nationals 7-1 Monday night.
Pitching on the eve of his 43rd birthday, Bartolo Colon (4-3) allowed one run and five hits in seven efficient innings. Baseball's oldest player struck out two and walked two.
With Duda out at least four to six weeks with a stress fracture in his lower back, Mets manager Terry Collins acknowledged it will take a committee approach to replace his power. Point taken, as Wright hit a three-run shot off Nationals starter Gio Gonzalez (3-2) during a five-run third inning, and Cespedes and Walker went back-to-back in the fifth.
Asdrubal Cabrera also drove in a run with the Mets' fifth consecutive hit in the third, and fill-in first baseman Eric Campbell produced another with a sacrifice fly.
Gonzalez, pitching to catcher Wilson Ramos for the first time this season, allowed seven runs and 10 hits in five innings. The lefty struck out seven and didn't walk a better, yet his ERA rose from 1.86 to 2.87.
After an hour rain delay, Gonzalez escaped trouble after giving up two consecutive hits to start the game and the Nationals gave him a lead on an RBI single by Ryan Zimmerman in the bottom of the first. Gonzalez got into more trouble in the third, as he began to unravel by hitting leadoff man Curtis Granderson in the right wrist with a pitch.
That's when the Mets' hit parade got started. Juan Lagares singled to set the table for Wright's fifth home run of the season on a curveball down the heart of the plate, and base hits from Cespedes, Walker and Cabrera and a sacrifice fly from Campbell made it 5-1 in a hurry.
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Colon worked with ease through Washington's lineup, which was mostly listless after the first inning. Ex-Met Daniel Murphy continued his hot start by going 2 for 4.
Meanwhile, Murphy's former teammates looked more than capable of scoring without Duda, who hit 57 home runs over the last two seasons and had seven this year. Cespedes' 15th of the season and Walker's 11th marked the seventh time New York went back-to-back in 2016.
With three home runs, the Mets reached 63 on the season, most in the National League and tied for second in the majors.
